Embracing her new role as UNSW’s inaugural Randwick Precinct Chief Operating Officer, Emma Francis is enjoying the complexity of opening UNSW’s new Integrated Acute Services Building (IASB) and steering the operations of the UNSW Health Translation Hub (HTH).
Emma is building on her previous experience as UNSW’s Randwick Clinical Campus Manager, where she worked closely with colleagues across the precinct.
Q: What are you most proud in your new role so far?
A: I have really hit the ground running over the last month, working with various teams to get UNSW’s IASB ready for use by our staff, students and health partners. IASB is an integrated, co-located space with research, education, clinical and training facilities designed to strengthen links between clinicians and researchers in real-time, creating a seamless physical connection between UNSW and the Randwick Health Campus. It has been a very busy few weeks sorting through operational matters working closely with building occupants, UNSW’s facility managers and our hospital partners to ensure the success of our new building. It has been a great transition over to this side of the project from my previous role as the Clinical Campus Manager as part of UNSW’s School of Clinical Medicine.
Q: What do you look forward to in the coming months?
A: I am looking forward to sorting out the final few operational details of the IASB and getting ready to see teaching in the spaces begin in September, as well as the exciting collaborations that will start to occur in the spaces. However, just as the IASB starts to settle into an operational building, work will continue to ramp up for planning for the HTH, which is rapidly progressing. One of the highlights of recent weeks was seeing the footbridge installed across Botany Street, which will connect the Randwick Health & Innovation Precinct (RHIP) to UNSW’s Kensington Campus!
We will be working with the building’s community to plan ways of working and how they will use this flagship building. We are also hosting tours of the site to help our staff see the size of the floors and visualise what their new workspace and teaching and research spaces might look like. We will have many UNSW staff who have previously been spread across many buildings (across UNSW’s Kensington Campus and the Randwick Health Campus) finally located together in one building. Coupled with the linkage to our healthcare partners based in RHIP, it will be an incredible opportunity to drive innovation in research and education.
Q: What opportunities excite you the most about when these new spaces open?
A: HTH is a prime opportunity for us to be leaders in new approaches to healthcare, and our mission is to improve the health of patients and the community. The space will be a hub for generating opportunities for innovation and accelerating the pace of health care in Australia and potentially globally. The building will be the result of years of hard work from many people and it will be wonderful to see it come to life.
Learn more about Randwick Health and Innovation Precinct’s partners, purpose and impact at rhip.org.au, and follow RHIP on LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube to keep up to date with what’s happening across the Precinct.