In June, UNE welcomed Associate Professor Sarah Wayland to the newly established role of Principal Lead, Staff and Student Safety Wellbeing – a role crucial to ensuring that UNE is a safe and welcoming place for all staff and students. The role was established following a consultative process to develop the position description in late 2023. Ultimately, the Principal Lead is a conduit for whole of institution collaboration and learning in this space and will support the work already underway across many parts of our organisation. Pulse caught up with Sarah for a quick chat about the role.
- How will your career as an academic help you in this new role?
I first enrolled at UNE as a Masters of Philosophy student, way back in 2011, after our 4th child was born. I hadn’t stepped foot in a University since my undergrad years in the 1990s and had decided to come to UNE to take my practice skills, as a trauma clinician and senior manager in the public service, to complete my Masters and then PhD looking out how we support people experiencing significant trauma.
Since my own graduation, on the lawns of Bool, in 2015 I’ve worked at UTS and USYD as an academic, and then returned to UNE in 2020 to coordinate social work, working my way up to my 2023 role as Interim Head of School in the Faculty of Medicine and Health. I tell this story to illustrate both my understanding of what it means to truly be at UNE as well as my professional skillset in workplace wellbeing, that I bring to the role.
Having an academic in a Principal Lead role is innovative, the inclusion allows me to translate the evidence base and to consider the ways in which evaluation and emerging trends in higher education shape safety and wellbeing. I bring a realist approach to the role with an innate understanding of the day to day of juggling units, marking, teaching, researching and finding time for service. My career core values have always been about relational leadership where I embrace work yet seek ways to keep myself and my team safe and well, in the pursuit of a thriving workplace.
- This is a new role for UNE. How will you describe the role and the scope of it? How do you fit in with the Office of Strategy Management?
If I had to pitch my new role in a short elevator ride, I would say that my job quite simply is to champion culture, safety and wellbeing change to affirm UNE’s commitment to a safe and accessible workplace and centre for learning in the regional and online space.
If I had a longer elevator ride, id explain that my overarching vision for this role is to champion the development of intersecting frameworks of change. I can envision how frameworks, that address student safety and wellbeing, alongside staff safety and wellbeing can create meaningful change that will directly impact UNE culture and prioritise healing. I embrace the idea, that in the legacy of Madgwick the priority of safety and respect are central to UNE’s culture however we need to both understand the impacts of past events, our capacity to interpret and apply legislation and policy as well as a commitment for truly seeing each person who works and studies at UNE as part of the re-imagining of organisational culture. We need to re-weave culture into the fabric of our tertiary education system as refenced by the 2024 Universities Accord final report and consider equitable and safe ways to teach and work at UNE.
My position sits within the Office of Strategy Management, and my role reports to OSM Director, Rebecca Cawood. OSM provides the University’s decision-makers with support, inspiration and analysis to make informed plans and to know whether they are on the path to success. This connects with my focus, in my new role, is to identify how a culture strategy can be designed, implemented and monitored.
- How will you approach the role and interact with UNE staff? What are your most pressing priorities/focus areas in the short term?
My approach to the role utilises the same strategy I have used to undertake staff, student or stakeholder projects over my career. Enthusiastic and inclusive collaboration and co-design of outcomes. I have been working on a first 100 days plan – where the priority is to identify what initiatives and data will inform the scope of my role, find time to talk, understand and learn about areas of the University where my position can have most impact, and to offer a chance to actively listen to what the lived experience is at UNE, as I work with external consultants undertaking discreet areas of work.
As a first step, the recommendations of the EY 2023 culture report will form the basis of the design of my role. Utilising the recommendations, and establishing a group of culture champions, as a first task. Whilst it can be sometimes easier to think about the workforce and how to create change, I believe that our mission and core focus should always be about the students and offering lifelong learning to those seeking to access education in multiple formats – on campus, online or a hybrid approach. This role provides an opportunity to work alongside Student Experience, Diversity and Inclusion, Safe communities and our residential college staff to respond to the needs of our on campus and online students to better understand the impact of safety and wellbeing on their academic achievements.
If you would like to reach out to Sarah to discuss her role, or make a time for Sarah to speak at a school, faculty or team meeting, please email principallead@une.edu.au If any staff would like to raise specific information relating to safety and wellbeing please consider approaching your line manager, EAP services or visit this section of UNE’s website to raise a hazard.