User:Trevor H. Cairney

Trevor H. Cairney OAM is Professor of Education and Master of New College at the University of New South Wales in Sydney Australia.

Trevor Cairney was born in Newcastle, New South Wales Australia. He was the son of a Scottish coalminer, who was also one of ten sons of a Scottish coalminer, from Caldercruix near Glasgow. He has been married to Carmen since 1972, with whom he shares two married daughters (Nicole and Louise) and six grandchildren.

Professional life

He commenced a mechanical engineering traineeship at the BHP in Newcastle in 1971 but left in his first year to become a teacher. Since then his professional life has had two major strands - teaching and research and university senior management. His educational career began as a primary school teacher in New South Wales (Australia) in 1972. He taught for 10 years in 3 different schools across all primary grades. For the last 3 years of his teaching career he was employed as the Teacher-in-Charge of a one teacher rural school where he taught up to 31 children in across all grades (in the one room!). He also worked for 3 years as a Curriculum Consultant for the NSW Department of Education. Throughout the 1970s and early 1980s he was enrolled continuously undertaking varied degrees, full-time, part-time or by external studies the University of New England and The University of Newcastle (an arts degree, a masters degree then a PhD in Cognitive Psychology). Following his completion of his PhD in 1984 he was a postdoctoral fellow at Indiana University.

In 1981 he was offered his first job in a university (Charles Sturt University) teaching English Language and special education. He has been in Universities ever since conducting research, teaching and filling other posts. These have included positions in universities as Professor, Head of various research centres, Dean of an Education faculty and Pro Vice-chancellor (Research) at the University of Western Sydney (1989-2002).

Currently he is the Master of New College at the University of New South Wales in Sydney. His day-to-day role is being responsible as CEO for the running and leadership of this independent Anglican residential college. In 2006 he initiated the development of a major postgraduate building to expand the work of New College and support the students of UNSW. This opened in January 2009 and was home with his wife Carmen for the first year in order to establish the community. He also holds an Adjunct Professorship in the School of Education at UNSW which serves as his academic 'home' for ongoing research and scholarship and where he supervises postgraduate students.

Academic Research & Publications

He has had two major research interests during his academic career. The first was research in early language development with a particular interest in how children become literate, how families support this development, and how language and literacy is shaped within social settings and as an extension of relationships. This was an outgrowth of his first career as a teacher.

His second area of interest of research is regional development and began with undergraduate and postgraduate studies in urban, regional and economic geography. This interest was rekindled in the 1990s when in senior management positions at the University of Western Sydney he championed the University’s involvement in the regional development of Greater Western Sydney (GWS). During this time he continued his language research situated primarily in families and their needs on the urban fringe of Sydney. This was underpinned by an understanding that education is important and that it can have an impact on individual lives, families and communities.

Involvement in the Business Community

As he led the University's research development he saw how vital its role was in regional engagement with business, industry, government and community groups. This period saw him develop strong relationships with business and industry groups and rekindle an interest in innovation. This led to a wide range of appointments to industry and business groups. These included sitting on varied economic development committees, chairing an inter-governmental Natural Gas Vehicles Taskforce, acting as a judge or various business and innovation awards and filling directorships of varied companies. One of his key appointments was as an elected director of the State Chamber of Commerce & Industry (NSW). This grew out of the Sydney Chamber of Commerce & Industry and now is named the Sydney Business Chamber. He was elected President of this organization in 2001 and continued in this role until 2010 to become the longest serving President since the Chamber’s creation in 1827. He is now director of the NSW Business Chamber and maintains an active involvement and interest in the business start-ups, industry policy and innovation.