HALL OF FAME

Dr Katherine Mead (nee Brumpton)

2020 Inductee

Student 1990 - 1994

Dr Katherine (Katie) Mead was born in central Queensland and moved to south-east Queensland with her family to attend Ipswich Girls’ Grammar School as a day girl from 1990 to 1994. She received the Australian Student Prize in 1994.

Dr Mead graduated from the University of Queensland with honours degrees in Arts (International Politics) and Law, and a doctorate in international relations.

Soon after graduating, she joined the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) as a trainee and in 2007 she took up her first position as an Australian diplomat, to the Australian High Commission in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. While there, she advised the Australian Government on Malaysia’s key political events and promoted Australian interests in Malaysia.

At DFAT headquarters in Canberra, Dr Mead has worked across a variety of Australia’s international priorities, including designing the program to prepare DFAT’s rapid response team for crises affecting Australians overseas. She has advised the Government on Australia’s bilateral relationships with Singapore, Myanmar and Indonesia.

From 2016 to 2021, Dr Mead worked on the Government’s international human rights agenda. She was a senior negotiator at the Australian Permanent Mission in Geneva, Switzerland, representing Australia during its membership of the United Nations Human Rights Council (2018 – 2020).

From 2021 to 2025, Dr Mead was Australia's Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Vienna, Austria.