Innovation & leadership

At UNSW, people with passion, purpose and talent are shaping a better tomorrow.

UNSW is home to some of the world's best and brightest minds. Every day, we create opportunities for our people to collaborate across disciplines, disrupt the status quo and emerge with world-changing solutions.

By investing in our Innovation and Leadership programs, you will be helping our outstanding staff and students to drive progress in the grand challenges of our time.

The UNSW Founders Program equips young entrepreneurs with the skills and experiences they need to transform creative ideas into investor-ready ventures.

The Women In... initiative promotes leadership pathways for young women through scholarships, mentoring and networking opportunities.

And the UNSW Named Chairs program empowers leading academics to pursue research that will protect and improve the lives of millions.

Explore our work in Innovation & Leadership

Named Chairs

Great universities drive economic, social, scientific, technological and environmental progress around the world. It’s a mission driven by academic freedom, conceptual creativity and intellectual courage. But delivering those breakthroughs requires an intense focus on visionary research, global network-building and deep community engagement.

The UNSW Named Chairs program provides outstanding academic leaders with an opportunity to pursue their highest ambitions, free of routine teaching and administrative responsibilities.

By lending your support to a Named Chair, you will be empowering one of the great thinkers of our time. You will be raising their profile as a scholar, but also drawing attention to the great challenges they aim to address.

Contact

UNSW Philanthropy
philanthropy@unsw.edu.au
+61 2 8936 4700

Women in Business

Certain sectors of the business world continue to attract fewer women than men. The UNSW Women in Business Program aims to change that. We provide a range of scholarships, mentoring opportunities and leadership development programs to help young women prepare for a career in business, particularly in finance, risk assessment and wealth management.

Your support will enable us to attract more bright female students to the UNSW Business School. With your help, we will grow the pipeline of talent from high school through to postgraduate levels, and increase the number of women in business leadership positions.

Contact

UNSW Philanthropy
development@unsw.edu.au
+61 2 8936 4700

Founders Program

Research alone does not deliver real-world impact. At UNSW, we believe it takes innovation, collaboration and entrepreneurship to turn new knowledge into products and practices that deliver tangible benefits.

The UNSW Founders Program is Australia's most comprehensive, on-campus entrepreneurship program, designed to give staff and students the skills they need to transform creative ideas into investor-ready ventures.

As a supporter of the Founders Program, you will be helping us to embed an entrepreneurial mindset in the University community. You will be contributing to the development of more than 400 start-up projects every year. And you will be equipping thousands of staff and students with the skills they need to establish sustainable partnerships and businesses into the future.

Contact

UNSW Philanthropy
development@unsw.edu.au
+61 2 8936 4700

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Related Funds

Scientia Fellows PhDs

The UNSW Scientia Fellowship Program attracts the very best and boldest scholars to the University. The program takes a whole-of-career approach, providing Fellows with all the support they need to thrive professionally, both inside and outside the University, including taking on roles in industry, government and other research organisations.

The program was launched with great success in 2017, and led to the recruitment of some of the world's most talented researchers. By 2025, the University aims to have made 290 Scientia Fellowship appointments.

Your contribution will fund the further development of the Scientia Fellowship program. Our recruitment of world-class scholars will help consolidate the UNSW research community as a hub of influential scholarship long into the future.

Contact
UNSW Philanthropy
development@unsw.edu.au
+61 2 8936 4700

View funds from related causes: scientia , fellows , fellowship , research , post graduate , postgrad , post grad , postgraduate , PhD , education , academia , academic , innovation , leadership , teaching , researchers , teacher

New Wave Founders

Disruptive changes in technology, manufacturing, supply chains, talent, communication and capital markets have changed the way the world works. Start-ups are critical to the business ecosystem. And entrepreneurial skills are essential for anyone who wants to make a real-world impact.

New Wave Founders is an offshoot of the Founders Program, an on-campus initiative designed to embed entrepreneurial thinking into the work of our staff and students.

New Wave Founders aims to address the gender gap in entrepreneurship by empowering UNSW women to launch start-ups. It is dedicated to giving female staff, students and alumni the support and education they need to make their visions a reality.

Your contribution to New Wave Founders will help us build a new generation of female entrepreneurs in Australia, to the very real benefit of the economy and the community at large.

Contact
UNSW Philanthropy
development@unsw.edu.au
+61 2 8936 4700

View funds from related causes: founders , entrepreneurship , entrepreneur , women , start-up , startup , business , innovation , leader , founder , innovate , technology

Founders 10x Accelerator

The Founders 10x Accelerator is the flagship initiative of the Founders Program.

It provides ten UNSW start-ups with the ultimate in entrepreneurial support. Across a 10-week program, the ten teams are introduced to skills and processes that will get them ready for growth and impact, and prepare them for investment from the business world.

When you invest in the Founders 10x Accelerator, you will be investing in the development of the next generation of Australian entrepreneurs.

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Contact
UNSW Philanthropy
development@unsw.edu.au
+61 2 8936 4700

View funds from related causes: founders , innovation , leadership , leader , business , start-up , startup , founder , accelerator , 10x , entrepreneurship , entrepreneur