Speakers

Professor David Lloyd, Universities Australia Chair will Address the National Press Club of Australia on "Policy or politics? – Australia’s future and the role of universities."

David Lloyd is the Vice-Chancellor and President of the University of South Australia. A Dublin-born and educated chemist who specialises in computer-aided drug design, Professor Lloyd joined the university at the beginning of 2013, re-focusing it as Australia’s university of enterprise and shaping its activities to better meet the challenges of the 21st century.

Professor Lloyd was a member of the South Australia Economic Development Board (EDB) from 2014 to 2018. A past Chair of the Australian Technology Network group of technology-focused universities, he now sits on the board of Universities Australia, the peak body representing the university sector where he is the lead Vice-Chancellor for research and innovation. 

Before joining the University of South Australia, Professor Lloyd was Vice-President for Research and later Bursar and Director of Strategic Innovation at Trinity College Dublin. Professor Lloyd was Chair of the Irish Research Council and prior to academia, worked in the pharmaceutical industry in the UK. He holds an honorary Professorship from Tianjin University and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry.

Professor Lloyd qualified with a Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Applied Chemistry and a PhD in Medicinal Organic Chemistry from Dublin City University. He additionally holds an MA (j.o.) from Trinity College and an Honorary Doctorate from the late Sir Terry Pratchett’s Unseen University.