John Byron

Dr John Byron is an Independent Member of the ACCESS-NRI Board.

John is a veteran policy leader in the higher education and research domains, with 25 years’ experience at both national and institutional levels. He was science and research adviser to then Minister Senator the Hon Kim Carr in the Rudd/Gillard Government, and his chief of staff in Opposition. He’s also been Executive Director of the Australian Academy of the Humanities and Dean of Research and Graduate Studies for Humanities at Curtin University.

He has published widely on higher education and research policy in academic journals and newspapers, authored countless submissions to government and parliamentary inquiries, and served on numerous government, sector and institutional governance, advisory and selection bodies.

John works for the Queensland University of Technology as Principal Policy Adviser to the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Margaret Sheil. He is an elected Fellow of the Queensland Academy of Arts and Sciences and a graduate member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

He holds a BA (Hons) and university medal from the University of Adelaide, and a PhD from the University of Sydney for a dissertation on films addressing problems of reality and identity, from Blade Runner to The Matrix. His debut novel, The Tribute, was published by Affirm Press in 2021.