Dear staff,
Following the fanfare of Brisbane’s successful Olympics and Paralympics bid, I wanted to provide you with an update on work to identify how UQ and our community can support this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
I remember back in 2000 when UQ hosted the Italian Olympic team before the Sydney Games. The buzz and the sense of pride among our community were infectious. Over the next decade, as Queensland prepares to welcome an international community of athletes, officials, media and visitors, we want to make sure that UQ is prepared to respond and contribute in as many ways as we can.
Governance structure for Olympics/Paralympics engagement
To enable this, the University Senior Executive Team (USET) has endorsed a governance structure to help identify opportunities and to bring together the relevant parts of the University that will help them be realised.
An oversight committee, which I will chair, has been established. The committee will include Professor Bruce Abernethy, Executive Dean, Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences, as Deputy Chair, with representatives from UQ’s Senate and senior executives, and our alumni and external community. Four working groups have also been established:
- Campus Activation and Infrastructure Working Group – chaired by Chief Operating Officer (COO), Andrew Flannery
- Research and Innovation Working Group – chaired by Executive Director, Research Partnerships, Paul Nicholls
- Education and Student Engagement Working Group – chaired by Acting Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic), Professor Doune Macdonald
- Reputation Building, Community Engagement and Advancement Working Group – chaired by Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Advancement and Community Engagement), Jen Karlson.
Strong connections
We will seek to engage with the Board of the Brisbane Organising Committee for the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games, to explore how UQ’s infrastructure, experts, research and multicultural community can contribute to making this the most memorable games. The Board includes a number of prominent UQ alumni including Committee Chair and President, Andrew N Liveris AO, Vice President and Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, and UQ Associate Professor Sarah Kelly OAM.
UQ’s commitment
Long before the Olympic torch is lit in Brisbane, an enormous amount of planning and preparation is needed from policy to venues, from athlete preparation to selection, from economic prosperity to sustainability. In many of these areas, UQ has the knowledge, expertise, infrastructure, and capacity to make significant and meaningful contributions.
In the 2022 QS World Rankings by Subject, UQ remained first in Australia and second in the world in the sports-related subject area. We are home to one of only three IOC Centres for Olympic Studies in Australia, along with one of only three IPC research centres in the world, the International Paralympic Committee Classification Research and Development Centre.
In addition, UQ is involved in the Queensland Network for Paralympic Performance Enhancement and Applied Sports Research formed in 2021 with partners including Paralympics Australia and the Queensland Academy of Sport. And, already, some of our experts have spoken at local events and represented Queensland as part of international government delegations.
Share your ideas
If you have any related engagements or activities, please contact the relevant Working Group Chair via email, copying in olympics2032@uq.edu.au. Any government-related activities should be discussed first with Shannon Willoughby, Director Government Relations and Policy.
This is a unique opportunity for our community to play a major supporting role and one I hope we together can feel very proud and privileged to be a part of.
With best wishes
Debbie
