Trinity welcomes Fiona Stanley AC

Lilian Alexander, after whom the Fellowship is named, was the first woman member of any Australian University College, admitted as a non-resident in 1883. She was later among the first women medical students of the University. Trinity appoints distinguished academics, professional and others to roles as teaching and research fellows, acknowledging their contributions to students and to scholarship.

Professor Stanley was the founding Director of the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research, established in Perth in 1990, and is Professor at the School of Paediatrics and Child Health at the University of Western Australia.

She has also been the Chair of the Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youth, a national collaboration of researchers, policy makers and practitioners from a broad range of disciplines. She was Australian of the Year in 2003, and in 2004 honoured as a 'National Living Treasure' by the National Trust. She is the UNICEF Australia Ambassador for Early Childhood Development.

Professor Stanley has published more than 300 papers in scientific journals and is a member of the Prime Minister’s Science, Engineering and Innovation Council. She has served on the Federal Government's Social Inclusion Board and the WA State Government's Indigenous Implementation Board. She has given many presentations, both nationally and internationally, on the socioeconomic determinants of child health.

She was appointed a Vice-Chancellor's Fellow at the University of Melbourne in 2011, and Director of the Festival of Ideas in 2013. Trinity has been an active supporter of the Festival, and in 2011 hosted distinguished historians David Cannadine and Linda Colley under the auspices of its Caldwell Lectures as contributors to the Festival. Professor Stanley's appointment is for the term of her Directorship, and reflects the commitment of the College to supporting the Festival.

Professor Stanley is married to Professor Geoffrey Shellam, an alumnus of Trinity (TC 1962).