Staff Champion category

As Planning and Design Principal at UniSC, registered architect Catherine Watts has redefined campus planning by embedding sustainability at every scale. With a passion for ecological protection and stakeholder inclusion, Catherine led the development of the 2023/24 Sunshine Coast Campus Masterplan—a bold and detailed strategy ensuring the university’s future growth aligns with environmental stewardship and community value. Her work balances technical innovation with cultural sensitivity, actively shaping a campus that supports climate resilience, community engagement and operational excellence.

Finalist – Catherine Watts

Impacts and Benefits

  • Delivered an award-winning, sustainability-embedded masterplan adopted in early 2024.
  • Enabled informed, proactive decision-making that prevents unsustainable development on ecologically sensitive land.
  • Developed key technical strategies in water, ecology, transport and First Nations inclusion.
  • Created operational clarity for staff, improving maintenance, biodiversity and long-term cost-efficiency.

Leadership and Engagement

  • Led an open, inclusive consultation process involving local councils, Traditional Custodians, schools, residents and staff.
  • Created a collaborative, iterative engagement model with public access to drafts and feedback sessions.
  • Produced detailed, actionable guidance to enable staged implementation in a low-funding climate.
  • Championed First Nations engagement as central to campus planning—setting a precedent now being formalised in university-wide frameworks.

Wider Societal Impact

  • Positioned the campus as a civic hub for wellness, learning, sport and community resilience.
  • Strengthened UniSC’s role as a public space provider in a fast-growing region lacking local infrastructure.
  • Supported funding for inclusive community recreation facilities ahead of the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
  • Fostered economic opportunities for Traditional Custodians through cultural inclusion and land care practices.
logo
logo

Supported by

logo

Related finalists

Past Winners

logo
Staff Champion category

As Planning and Design Principal at UniSC, registered architect Catherine Watts has redefined campus planning by embedding sustainability at every scale. With a passion for ecological protection and stakeholder inclusion, Catherine led the development of the 2023/24 Sunshine Coast Campus Masterplan—a bold and detailed strategy ensuring the university’s future growth aligns with environmental stewardship and community value. Her work balances technical innovation with cultural sensitivity, actively shaping a campus that supports climate resilience, community engagement and operational excellence.

Finalist – Catherine Watts

Impacts and Benefits

  • Delivered an award-winning, sustainability-embedded masterplan adopted in early 2024.
  • Enabled informed, proactive decision-making that prevents unsustainable development on ecologically sensitive land.
  • Developed key technical strategies in water, ecology, transport and First Nations inclusion.
  • Created operational clarity for staff, improving maintenance, biodiversity and long-term cost-efficiency.

Leadership and Engagement

  • Led an open, inclusive consultation process involving local councils, Traditional Custodians, schools, residents and staff.
  • Created a collaborative, iterative engagement model with public access to drafts and feedback sessions.
  • Produced detailed, actionable guidance to enable staged implementation in a low-funding climate.
  • Championed First Nations engagement as central to campus planning—setting a precedent now being formalised in university-wide frameworks.

Wider Societal Impact

  • Positioned the campus as a civic hub for wellness, learning, sport and community resilience.
  • Strengthened UniSC’s role as a public space provider in a fast-growing region lacking local infrastructure.
  • Supported funding for inclusive community recreation facilities ahead of the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
  • Fostered economic opportunities for Traditional Custodians through cultural inclusion and land care practices.

Supported by

logo

Related finalists

Other finalists