Dr Graham Wise

higher education management
international development
innovation

Bio

I am an international development and higher education researcher and professional. I focus on the development of education and innovation systems to build global human capacity. As a researcher and teacher I aspire to empower people with a global view, to build activity that has economic value while supporting a sustainable way of life. I am currently an International Director at the University of Southern Queensland, and I was previously  a co-founding Board member and VP of Innovation at Ikiam University in the Ecuadorian Amazon. I have held adjunct positions at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Griffith University. I was the founding board chair of Ikiam E.P. a hybrid corporate entity to support cross-sectoral innovation, and I co-founded a not-for-profit charitable corporation.

Graham Wise headshot

My research aims to have positive impact in developed and developing regions through a better understanding of higher education management and innovation. We all seek 'el buen vivir', so how can we aspire to the good life as members of knowledge economies, living in the Anthropocene age?

Prior to my academic career, I was the research development manager of Griffith University in Australia, where I established and led a unit of six managers who secured large scale funding for collaborative international or industry linked research. Working in research development I helped to establish many large ongoing research centers and programs, including the experimental $70M Cookshire Solar Project in the remote Far North Queensland. Please see my impact page for other highlights. It was my work in research development that led the Ecuadorian Government to invite me to co-found a university in the Ecuadorian Amazon, for sustainable development and conservation of natural resources. Ikiam University now has growing population of over 1000 students, and maintains its vision for global sustainability.

Research

higher education management
international development
innovation

Please visit my ResearchGate site for more detailed information on my publications and research focuses.

Higher education management

Higher Education Management

My higher education management and policy research seeks to understand how higher education sector organisations can be governed and managed effectively and inclusively for academic excellence, industry impact, and regional relevance. Click here for more...

International Development

International Development

My international development work began with the establishment of Ikiam University in the Ecuadorian Amazon. I have focussed on issues of ethics and diversity in organizational governance, and North-South power asymmetries in cross-institutional research. I aim to have positive impact in low and middle income regions, having high regard for their cultural and regional distinctiveness. Click here for more...

Innovation

Innovation

My research in the area of innovation systems and entrepreneurship is focused broadly on the development of regional innovation systems, entrepreneurial business activities and the teaching of entrepreneurship. It aims to seed sustainable enterprises and broad-minded entrepreneurs within knowledge-based societies. Click here for more...
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Neuroscience

Neuroscience

Originally, my academic career began in the field of neuroscience, specialising in neuronal hypoxia tolerance. This industry-funded research focused on neurochemical survival mechanisms during hypoxia, it aimed to seed industry innovation to improve methods for transporting finfish.

Impact

Professional Impact

Click here to go to my impact page and explore some of the projects that I have established or helped to develop over my career, or visit my LinkedIn site to view my professional background. Everybody needs economic security, and innovation is one pathway to build better livelihoods. However, if we degrade our social or environmental systems in our pursuit of innovation, then we damage ourselves and everyone around us.

In urban Milwaukee, regional Australia to the remote Ecuadorian Amazon, people are innovating in the search for financial freedom. Freedom from rural poverty in a fragile rainforest environment, or freedom from urban poverty due to a constrained employment market. Our collective challenge is to seek economic security in ways that build our social cohesion and support a healthy environment.

Teaching

global studies
social innovation
entrepreneurship

Teaching Innovation

The teaching of innovation demands more than the provision of information. Innovation teaching must have context, and that context must inspire students to harness their creativity into entrepreneurial concepts, cognizant of the risks that are inherent with starting new enterprises. The teaching of social innovation requires additional attention. Teachers must inspire students to reach past a typical economic model for business development, to ensure that social and environmental values are also supported.

At Ikiam University we are building an integrated innovation program, interwoven through undergraduate degrees in water, environment, biotech, geosciences, agroecology, biocommerce and sustainable architecture. In-field knowledge provides the grounding for students to be inspired to create new ways of thinking. Their skills grow through experiential learning, within research and innovation projects. We aim for graduates to be more confident to innovate within established companies as intrapreneurs, or to establish their own enterprises.