Dr Meredith Martin has over 20 years’ experience working at the intersection of higher education, the creative industries and the public sector as a researcher, senior manager and strategic advisor. Throughout her career she has maintained a strong interest in the social impacts of cultural and public engagement, with a focus on accessibility, social inclusion, Indigenous rights and gender parity. Meredith completed a PhD in museum studies in 2009 and has published and presented widely on the social impacts of cultural investment. Until recently she was the Associate Director Cultural Engagement at the University of Melbourne, where she led the University’s cultural strategy and whole-of-University partnerships with major cultural organisations and peak bodies such as ACCA, ACMI, Arts Centre Melbourne, Australia Council for the Arts, NGV and State Library Victoria. She is now the Strategic Lead of the Pathways to Politics Program for Women, a partnership between the Melbourne School of Government, Trawalla Foundation and Women’s Leadership Institute Australia, which she established with Carol Schwartz AO in 2015, to help redress the underrepresentation of women in Australian parliaments. Meredith continues to provide strategic advice on the relationship between higher education and the creative industries as a consultant to cultural organisations.