Conversation with Professor Frances Shannon, University of Canberra

Born in Wexford and educated at Presentation Secondary School, Professor Frances Shannon has an extensive record of leadership and senior management experience within higher education and medical research institutes, principally in Australia.

After studies in biochemistry and zoology at University College Dublin (PhD, 1981), she made significant contributions to understanding gene regulation and epigenetics in the immune system. Her research has focused on T cell responses at the gene level, particularly how cytokine genes are switched on and off when T cells are activated by immune signals  

Moving to Australia in the 1980s she worked initially as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Adelaide and was a founding member of the Hanson Centre for Cancer Research. At the Australian National University in Canberra from 1998 she served as director of the John Curtin School of Medical Research, where she led the development of a large genomics facility. From 2010, at the University of Canberra, she was Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research and Innovation at the University of Canberra, with responsibility for research, innovation and research training across the university, and for the university’s indigenous strategy.

Prof Shannon and her scientist husband have three children and she likes to mentor other women who juggle career and family commitments. She has championed University of Canberra's involvement in the Academy of Science's initiative for gender equity in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics). 

In retirement, Prof Shannon consults across the higher education sector providing advice on research strategy, grant writing and mentoring - especially aspiring female leaders. She has five grandchildren scattered across the globe which keep her busy too and she has become a furniture maker in the last few years.

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