ProfessorMark Rose

Professor Mark Rose is traditionally linked to the Gunditjmara people from Western Victoria. He has a decades-long career in education at state, national and international levels. Mark first worked at Deakin 2009-13 as Chair, Indigenous Knowledge Systems. Before returning to Deakin in early 2020, Mark was Executive Director, Indigenous Strategy and Education at La Trobe University and Professor, Indigenous Business and Enterprise at RMIT University.

As Pro Vice-Chancellor Indigenous Strategy and Innovation, Mark prosecutes tirelessly the propositions that education empowers Indigenous Australians and that Deakin, as an Australian university, must acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and knowledges. Mark led the development of Deakin’s Indigenous Strategy 2023-2028 and is overseeing its implementation. He designed the approach to embedding Indigenous knowledges in the curriculum to inform and support teaching teams within their disciplines.

Mark has guided the University through sensitive discussions about the legacy of Alfred Deakin with senior Indigenous leaders and members of the Deakin family. These conversations resulted in the Tanderrum, agreed in 2023.

He established the Vice-Chancellor’s Indigenous Advisory Council, composed of First Nations voices from around Australia with expertise in a range of fields, to provide expert advice and consultation on a range of issues, and monitors the University’s progress on key strategic initiatives. The Indigenous Oration, another of Mark’s initiatives, is now a fixture on Deakin’s annual calendar.

Mark is tireless in informing and discussing with the Deakin community contemporary Indigenous matters, frequently hosting online sessions including before and after the referendum on the Voice to Parliament and on how the Tanderrum came into being. He is generous with his time and expertise, always finding time to work with School, Faculty and Divisional groups on deepening their understanding of Indigenous ways.

Mark has written and published on a wide range of Indigenous matters. He has taught in postgraduate programs at RMIT University’s Faculty of Business in Australia, Beijing, Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia. He has also contributed his professional and community expertise in various ministerial advisory committees at state and national levels, including as co-chair of the Victorian Implementation Review of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody. As a ministerial appointment, Mark was the Chair of the Batchelor Institute of Tertiary Education’s Council, was on the Vice-Chancellor’s Indigenous Advisory Council at Charles Darwin University, and was a member of the Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Advisory Group. He is currently chair of the Australian Film Television and Radio School’s Academic Board and Executive Director of the Emerging Indigenous Executive Leaders’ Program at the Australian Graduate School of Management.