Professor Scott Bowman is the Vice Chancellor of Charles Darwin University.
Born in the small town of Burton Lattimer in Northamptonshire, England, Scott came from a working class family where all boys left school at 15 years of age to start working. He was an outlier, wanting to stay on and finish his 'A' levels. However, as he says, he partied like he was at university and didn't get the grades to go to university. So he took a traineeship at the local hospital and eventually became a radiographer.
When he and his wife decided to move to London, he somehow managed to enrol in a Masters degree in politics, even though he had not completed a Bachelors. He went on to do a PhD in clinical decision making, he realised much later on that this was a response to seeing his mother's battle with grief over the loss of his younger sibling who was still born.
After stints at various universities in the UK, Scott accepted a position in Charles Sturt University in the New South Wales country town of Wagga Wagga and his family migrated to Australia. Since then he has worked in Whyalla in South Australia, Cairns in Far North Queensland and Rockhampton.
Retiring in 2018 at the ripe old age of 55, Scott and his wife had planned to go on a world trip in their 'Earth Cruiser' starting in Vladivostok, Russia. Then Covid hit and those plans were shelved. He then accepted a short term position in the University of Western Sydney before finally moving to Darwin for his current role.
Scott talks about his vision for CDU and his plans and challenges.
This is Scott Bowan's Territory story.
