Australian Magazine

Attila Brungs is one of Australia’s most influential university leaders, bringing a rare blend of scientific training, industry experience and public policy insight to higher education. As Vice-Chancellor of UNSW Sydney, he is reshaping the university’s mission around public impact, ethics and innovation.

Early life and Scientific Foundations of Attila Brungs

Attila Brungs is one of the most influential figures in contemporary Australian higher education. Now the 10th Vice-Chancellor and President of UNSW Sydney, he combines a background in industrial chemistry with senior roles across business, research and public policy.

Born in Australia and raised in Sydney, Brungs attended Saint Ignatius’ College, Riverview, before enrolling at UNSW. There he studied Industrial Chemistry and graduated with the University Medal, marking him out early as a high-achieving scientist.

His academic path then took him to the University of Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, where he completed a doctorate in inorganic chemistry focusing on transition metal carbides and methane reforming – work in heterogeneous catalysis that later underpinned his election as a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering.

These foundations matter for understanding Attila Brungs today. His scientific training informs the way he talks about evidence, risk and long-term planning, and helps explain his close interest in research translation and technology-driven industry partnerships.

Attila Brungs and His Journey From McKinsey and CSIRO to UTS

Before becoming a vice-chancellor, Attila Brungs built a career that moved deliberately between industry and public research agencies. After Oxford he joined global consulting firm McKinsey & Company, spending around four years managing teams in Australia, New Zealand, Asia and North America.

In 2002 he shifted to CSIRO, where he rose to General Manager, Science Investment, Strategy and Performance. In that role he helped set research directions and allocate resources, monitored performance and contributed to organisation-wide strategy.

That combination of corporate strategy experience and public research management later proved crucial at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS). Brungs joined UTS in 2009 as Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) and was appointed Vice-Chancellor and President in 2014, leading the institution until late 2021.

During his time at UTS, Attila Brungs was closely associated with the university’s rapid climb in international rankings among young universities and with a $1.5 billion campus redevelopment, including landmark buildings such as the Dr Chau Chak Wing Building designed by Frank Gehry and the UTS Central Building.

His approach at UTS was widely described as collaborative and innovation-focused, emphasising partnership with industry, embedding real-world projects in teaching and redesigning the physical campus to support interdisciplinary work.

Attila Brungs returns to UNSW as Vice-Chancellor

In June 2021 UNSW announced that Attila Brungs would become its next Vice-Chancellor and President, succeeding Professor Ian Jacobs. He formally took up the role on 31 January 2022.

UNSW Chancellor David Gonski described his appointment as “an outstanding” outcome for the university, highlighting Brungs’ inclusive leadership style, commitment to students and focus on innovation and engagement with community and industry.

For Attila Brungs, the move was also a return to his alma mater. He noted that UNSW was uniquely placed to work with government and business “to drive research commercialisation and translation” in a post-pandemic environment, and to meet what he called a “skilling revolution” across Australian society.

As UNSW’s 10th vice-chancellor, Brungs leads a university that now sits in the global top 20 of the QS World University Rankings, with a strong reputation in engineering, business, law, health and climate research.

Attila Brungs and the UNSW Strategy-Progress for All

One of the major initiatives of his tenure has been the development and launch of “UNSW Strategy: Progress for All”, a 10-year framework released in 2025. The strategy emphasises UNSW’s role in advancing the public good and focuses on areas where the university can “turn the dial” on major global challenges – from climate and sustainability to health, equity and security.

The strategy is built around five “Impact Pathways” and four “Impact Focus Areas”, all connected by a Societal Impact Framework that aims to link research, teaching and engagement directly to outcomes for communities.

In explaining Progress for All, Attila Brungs often frames universities as public institutions with responsibility to improve lives, not just to advance knowledge. UNSW’s official profile describes his belief that the university’s commitment to education, research and engagement must “improve lives in Australia and globally”.

This public-good frame appears in his regular communications to staff and students, where he highlights the importance of social impact, ethical practice and widening participation alongside traditional measures such as rankings or income.

Ethics, public good and the values of Attila Brungs

A notable theme in the public comments of Attila Brungs is the central role of ethics in public life. In a 2024 UNSW notice launching a project on Australia’s “ethical infrastructure”, he argued that ethics sits at the heart of good business, governance, education and politics, and called for it to be “reinvigorated” to address the hardest problems of our time.

This focus lines up with his description of universities as existing “for the benefit of all”, a phrase used in his official biography. Under its leadership, UNSW has expanded initiatives around integrity, transparency, and social responsibility, including projects on human rights, sustainable development, and responsible technology.

Within UNSW’s veteran engagement program, for example, he has spoken about the university’s commitment to the veteran community and the value of their skills and experience for the institution’s mission of “progress for all”.

These statements reinforce a broader narrative: Attila Brungs sees universities as institutions that must help shape fairer, more resilient societies, not simply train graduates or publish research.

Attila Brungs and his strong bond with UNSW Chemistry and Engineering

Attila Brungs frequently references his own UNSW student experience. A 2024 UNSW feature on his “strong bond” with chemistry and engineering recounts that he was the university medallist for Industrial Chemistry and remained closely connected with his former faculty.

The article describes how he has returned to the same campus where he once needed a lift from his father to attend classes, now walking in as vice-chancellor. That continuity is reflected in the attention he pays to laboratory infrastructure, STEM outreach and industry partnerships, especially in engineering and physical sciences.

As vice-chancellor he has supported major initiatives in energy, materials and climate-related research, often emphasising the need to link science and engineering with real-world deployment through collaboration with government and business.

Governance, boards and national roles held by Attila Brungs

Beyond UNSW, Attila Brungs plays a significant role in sector and policy governance. He serves on the Board of Universities Australia and the Group of Eight (Go8) Board, where he contributes to national debates on higher education funding, regulation and international engagement.

His previous roles include Chair of the Australian Technology Network of Universities, Convenor of the NSW Vice-Chancellors’ Committee, and member of state and federal bodies such as the NSW Innovation and Productivity Council and the Federal Government’s National University Precincts Advisory Committee.

He is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of New South Wales and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering – recognition that acknowledges both his research in catalysis and his leadership in higher education and innovation policy.

These appointments position Attila Brungs at the intersection of universities, industry and government, giving him influence on decisions about research investment, skills planning and innovation ecosystems across Australia.

Attila Brungs on innovation, industry links and research translation

Throughout his career, Attila Brungs has presented innovation and collaboration as central to the mission of universities. A profile by the Academy of Technology and Engineering notes that he has played a major role in promoting Australia’s innovation profile overseas and strengthening connections between industry, universities and government.

At UTS he linked campus renewal with industry-focused teaching, encouraging co-location with businesses and embedding internship and project-based learning. At UNSW, he continues to promote large-scale partnerships, including major collaborations in energy transition, defence, medtech and digital innovation.

In commentary about Australia’s economic future, Attila Brungs has argued that universities, business and government need a more deliberate pact to lift productivity, lift research commercialisation and address stagnant business innovation performance.

This stance ties into national debates about value for public investment in research and the role of universities in supply chains, sovereign capability and future industries.

Student experience, access and diversity under Attila Brungs

A recurring theme in the work of Attila Brungs is widening access to higher education. At UNSW he has supported schemes such as the Gateway Program, which provides additional entry pathways and support for students from disadvantaged backgrounds. Federal Education Minister Jason Clare has publicly praised programs like Gateway for opening doors to university for more young Australians.

Brungs’ messages to students often stress wellbeing, resilience and the value of lifelong learning. In official communications he has emphasised the university’s work during the COVID-19 pandemic to move quickly to high-quality online learning while considering the different situations students faced.

His insistence that students are central to UNSW’s mission is reflected in the creation of new roles focused on education and student experience, ongoing investment in digital learning infrastructure and support services across the Kensington and satellite campuses.

Personal side of Attila Brungs-Family, Interests and Character

While much public coverage centres on his institutional roles, Attila Brungs also has a personal life that occasionally surfaces in profiles and alumni stories. He is married to artist Kate Gradwell, and the couple have two children.

Past pieces have described him as approachable and community-minded, noting his involvement with fencing clubs and his habit of engaging directly with students and staff during campus visits.

These glimpses support the picture of a vice-chancellor who attempts to balance formal leadership with visible presence on campus, attending faculty events, visiting laboratories and holding town-hall style meetings.

The Future of UNSW under Attila Brungs

Looking ahead, Attila Brungs faces the same pressures that confront other Australian vice-chancellors: policy uncertainty, cost-of-living impacts on students, changing international student markets and rapidly evolving technologies such as artificial intelligence.

Under his leadership, UNSW is pursuing international fellowships to attract world-leading researchers – such as the recently announced Green Fellowship program, named after solar pioneer Martin Green – in areas ranging from sustainability and green energy to health and security.

Brungs describes this push as consistent with UNSW’s ambition to tackle “the great challenges of our time” by bringing global talent to Sydney and strengthening the university’s research depth.

At the same time, initiatives like the Societal Impact Framework and Progress for All signal that his agenda is not just about scale, but about shaping a university that measures success by public impact, ethical practice and improved life chances for diverse communities.

Final thoughts on Attila Brungs in Australian Higher Education

Across his career, Attila Brungs has moved from chemistry laboratories to corporate boardrooms and vice-chancellor’s offices, consistently arguing that universities exist to serve the public good. As UNSW’s vice-chancellor, he now leads one of Australia’s most visible institutions at a time of rapid change in technology, industry and politics.

For students, staff and partners, the leadership of Attila Brungs is likely to remain central to how UNSW adapts to this environment – from research translation and ethical governance to access programs and global fellowships. His trajectory from UNSW undergraduate to Rhodes Scholar, McKinsey consultant, CSIRO strategist, UTS chief and now UNSW head illustrates how a scientifically trained Australian academic can shape national conversations about education, innovation and the future of work.