International Women's Day Breakfast 2026

Lineup

• More details about Professor Joy Damousi AO

  Professor Joy Damousi AO

  Professor Joy Damousi AM FAHA FASSA is Redmond Barry Distinguished Professor in the School of Historical and Philosophical Studies in the Faculty of Arts. She is an award-winning historian of war and its aftermaths, gender and women’s history, and twentieth century migration history in relation to refugees, humanitarianism and internationalism. She is one of Australia’s most distinguished historians and public intellectuals, and a leader in the humanities nationally and internationally. Professor Damousi is a former President of the Australian Academy of the Humanities (2018-2020) and former President of the Australian Historical Association (2018-2020) which bestowed on her a life-time achievement award for her distinguished contribution to the history profession. In 2022 she was awarded an Order of Australia (AM) for significant services to social sciences and humanities, to history and to tertiary education. Professor Damousi has published widely. Her recent works include The Humanitarians: Child War Refugees and Australian Humanitarianism in a Transnational World, 1919-1975, (Cambridge 2022; Shortlisted for the Marilyn Lake Award for Transnational History); Memory and Migration in the Shadow of War: Australia's Greek Immigrants after World War II and the Greek Civil War, (Cambridge 2015; Shortlisted for the Ernest Scott Prize); Freud in the Antipodes: A Cultural History of Psychoanalysis in Australia, UNSW Press, 2005, (Winner of the Ernest Scott Prize) and co-editor of the four volume Cambridge World History of Violence, 2020 (Winner of Association of American Publishers Prose Awards).

• More details about Professor Jane Gunn AO

  Professor Jane Gunn AO

  Professor Jane Gunn AO is a distinguished academic, inaugural Chair of Primary Care Research and the first female Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences. Jane was appointed interim Provost in July 2025. Born and raised in regional Victoria, Jane realises the importance of a healthcare system founded on principles of access and equity with strong primary care at its centre. Jane is a general practitioner and led the Department of General Practice at the University of Melbourne for ten years. She has been a visiting Professor to Scottish School of Primary Care, University of Glasgow, Hong Kong University, Chinese University Hong Kong and Oxford University. Her 15-year National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) funded cohort study – the Diagnosis, Management and Outcomes of Depression in Primary Care (diamond) study – aimed to develop models of care to transform primary mental health care. This study has twice been included in the NHMRC ‘Ten of the Best’ collection, and an intervention tool developed from it forms a component of the Australian government’s Head to Health initiative which provides free online mental health information and support. She has been awarded more than $74m in research funding and published more than 260 scholarly works. A Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences since 2016 and a Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, Jane’s Directorships have covered primary care, hospital and medical research. She has served two terms on the NHMRC Research Committee and is a current member of NHMRC Council. In her position as Dean, Jane currently serves on several boards including the Children’s Campus Council, Doherty Council, Florey, Melbourne Academic Centre for Health, Melbourne Health, Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, and Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, which helps the University maintain effective relationships across the health and medical research sector. As Dean of the largest Faculty in the University, Jane provides leadership and strategic vision while fostering a collaborative environment for approximately 6,000 staff and 11,000 students. In her spare time, Jane enjoys hiking, bushwalking and scouring shorelines for the elusive cowrie shell.