Helen Sullivan is a public policy researcher, teacher, advisor, and senior university leader. She currently serves as Dean of the College of Asia and the Pacific at the Australian National University.

Helen is a leading scholar on the theory and practice of state-society interactions in contemporary governance. She has advanced the fields of political science in three main ways: on collaboration in policymaking; on public participation and democracy; and via interpretivist methods. She is the author or editor of nine books and more than 100 peer reviewed academic articles, book chapters, and policy reports. Her most recent book Collaboration and Public Policy: Agency in the Pursuit of Public Purpose (2022) was shortlisted for the WJM Mackenzie Book Prize for the best book in political studies published in 2022/23. In 2024, Helen was elected to the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia.

Helen’s teaching focuses on leading in complex systems and challenging times. She has worked with professionals from all over the world in postgraduate and executive education programs and is actively engaged in shaping education for future leaders. In 2003 she was awarded a Fellowship of the (now) Higher Education Academy for her excellence in innovative, creative and interactive teaching. 

Helen’s career is distinguished by an enduring commitment to building bridges between research and practice to improve public policy making and professional practice and enhance public understanding of the value of political studies. She has designed and led multiple cross-sector collaborative institutions, worked closely with governments and public service organisations at all levels to embed evidence-based reform, sponsored national and global programs of Indigenous led research and education, and enabled new forms of public engagement with research. In 2017, she was made a National Fellow of the Institute of Public Administration Australia in recognition of her outstanding contribution to public policy practice.