Colleagues,

The end of 2025 brings the heartbreaking news of the death of our friend and colleague, Professor Emma Johnston AO, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Melbourne.

She died due to complications associated with cancer, and her passing was announced this morning. 

This news will be a terrible shock to so many. All who knew Emma will testify to her remarkable intellectual energy: a pioneering marine ecologist, a brilliant science communicator, and an inspiring, transformational leader. And someone we would have all wanted to make further vibrant contributions to Australian life in the decades ahead.

When she joined the University of Sydney as Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) in 2022, we knew we were privileged to recruit her, and that she was destined to be a Vice-Chancellor of a major university. It was only a matter of time. Sydney offered her the chance to develop her skills in university-wide reforms, which she did with distinction, delivering significant initiatives such as the establishment of the Horizon Fellows program.

She left us a year ago to take up the Vice-Chancellorship at Melbourne, a place where she had completed her PhD and been a student leader. It was an irresistible homecoming. She had already made her mark there this year, driving strategic and cultural change, drawing on her marine research to focus on resilience as a vital institutional capability at a time of challenge and opportunity.

It feels like an unfathomable loss.

Across the communities Emma was a part of throughout her life, there will be profound sadness. Emma was a national leader in the scientific community, particularly in Marine Science, and had been a vital part of the academic community at UNSW where she worked with distinction for many years. Here at Sydney, those who worked most closely with her, particularly her colleagues in the research portfolio and on the University Executive, will grieve her passing.

With so many brilliant achievements behind her, it seemed her most significant impact still lay ahead through her leadership of an outstanding global university in Melbourne.

We particularly acknowledge our colleagues at the University of Melbourne as they come to terms with this terribly sad news, and as they rise to deliver Emma’s strategic ambitions without her daily presence.

Emma’s career was marked by brilliant achievements, but her family was her greatest joy. Our hearts go out to her husband and children.

Mark Scott

Professor Mark Scott
Vice-Chancellor and President