Professionals Network

Felicity Engwicht

UQPN President
Senior Manager, Systems and Data Analysis, Finance and Business Services
St Lucia Campus

WHY UQPN?

Having spent over a decade in higher education, I strongly believe in networking, empowerment, partnering, positivity, and knowledge sharing.  In a diverse and dynamic organisation, sometimes it is hard to know where to find help, start up a mentoring relationship, or how to expand your network.  UQPN provides a valuable platform for all professional staff to connect, learn, share, support, and collaborate across UQ.

I love being part of the enthusiastic UQPN community!

EXPERIENCE

I bring to the UQPN Executive Committee over 20 years of experience as a finance professional in diverse industries, including higher education, mining, and private practice accounting.  My qualifications include a Bachelor of Business Management and Masters in Accounting.  I have a process improvement mindset and am always seeking to strive for best practices.  So far, my career has taken me from leadership roles in the remote outback mining town of Mount Isa to managing change projects in Brisbane and everything else in between.  

Memorable outback highlights include an evening Christmas party on top of the Aryshire Hills in Winton (where “The Proposition” and scenes from “Picnic at Hanging Rock” was filmed), Maltese Cross (staurolite) fossicking in Mount Isa and flying in a light aircraft to Darwin (not piloted by me though!).  It was an exciting experience to live in Mount Isa and fully appreciate the complexity of the production and funding cycle from extracting ore in the ground to shipping copper anode offshore.

Having been back in Brisbane since 2012, my leadership and project roles in QUT have been invaluable in progressing my career.  A highlight has been working alongside academics and the Research Office at QUT to develop an approach and methodology for budgeting for externally funded research projects.  This included configuring budget systems, building dashboard reports as well as leading the QUT-wide change.  I commenced at UQ in 2018 and have held various roles, including:

  • Financial Planning and Analysis (FPA) administering UQ-wide strategic funding and assisting in the early stages of the Financial Resource Allocation Framework (FRAF),
  • Secondment opportunity in the DVCRI Operations team,
  • Project deployment in QAAFI working on policies, procedures, and best practice,
  • Secondment opportunity in the position of Manager, Finance Client Support Services leading training, communication, and support to UQ Finance and the wider UQ,

In my current position as Senior Manager, Systems and Data Analysis, Finance and Business Services, I lead a small team that administers finance systems and performs data analysis as well as Project Manager on the Chart of Accounts stream of the FEAT program.

Nowadays most of my time outside of work is spent chasing after my two young children, keeping them entertained with visits to the latest exhibition, teaching them café culture and making the most of trips to the beach.