57 Notable alumni of Flinders University

Stephanie Wendy Key JP is a former Australian politician who was a member of the South Australian House of Assembly for the Australian Labor Party from the 1997 election until her retirement in 2018, representing the electorates of Hanson (1997–2002) and Ashford (2002–2018).

Richard Kelly Tipping is an Australian poet and artist best known for his visual poetry, word art, and large-scale public artworks. Examples of his work are held in major collections in Australia and abroad.

Alex Frayne is an Adelaide-based Australian photo artist whose images have received attention locally and abroad. He studied film at the Flinders University of South Australia, where he met long-time collaborator and cinematographer Nick Remy Matthews.

Konrad Pesudovs is an Australian optometrist and outcomes researcher in ophthalmology; recognised as the leading optometrist researcher worldwide in terms of H-Index and total citations. He is SHARP Professor of Optometry and Vision Science at the University of New South Wales (2020-). He was the Foundation Chair of Optometry and Vision Science at Flinders University from 2009 to 2017.

Dean Nicolle, is an Australian botanist, arborist, and ecologist. He is widely recognised as the leading authority on the genus Eucalyptus.

Nazira Karimo Vali Abdula is a pediatrician and politician from Mozambique. She has served as Minister of Health in the government of Filipe Nyusi from January 19, 2015, until January 17, 2020.

Son Chhay is a Cambodian politician, and one of the highest-ranking members of the Cambodia National Rescue Party. Son Chhay graduated in 1984 from Flinders University in Australia with a bachelor's degree in Mathematical Science. This was followed by a Diploma in Education from the University of Adelaide in 1985. Son Chhay was first elected to parliament in 1993 representing...

Robert Bruce Such was a South Australian politician. He was the member for the seat of Fisher in the South Australian House of Assembly from 1989 until his death in 2014. He defeated Labor MP Philip Tyler at the 1989 election and was a member of the Liberals until 2000 when he became an independent. Such was Minister for Employment,...

Andrea Michaels is an Australian politician representing the South Australian House of Assembly seat of Enfield for the South Australian Branch of the Australian Labor Party since the 2019 Enfield by-election. Since March 2022 and as of September 2025, she has served as Minister for Small and Family Business, Minister for Consumer and Business Affairs, and Minister for Arts in...

Robert Andrew Simms is an Australian politician, representing the Greens South Australia. He was a Senator for South Australia from 2015 to 2016, an Area Councillor for the City of Adelaide from 2014 to 2015 and from 2018 to 2021. Since May 2021, he has been a member of the South Australian Legislative Council.

Carolyn Laura Power is an Australian politician. She was a Liberal member of the South Australian House of Assembly from the 2018 state election until 2022, representing Elder.

Thomas Richard Kenyon is a former Australian politician who represented the South Australian House of Assembly seat of Newland for the Labor Party from the 2006 election until his defeat in 2018. Kenyon left the Labor Party in 2021 to found the Family First Party.

Craig Lahiff was an Australian film director. He grew up in the Adelaide suburb of Somerton Park and studied science at the University of Adelaide, then trained as a systems consultant before studying arts in film at Flinders University. He began working in the film industry on crews for movies such as Sunday Too Far Away and The Fourth Wish.

Andrew John Southcott is an Australian politician and medical practitioner. He was the Liberal member for the House of Representatives seat of Boothby from the 1996 election until he stood down at the 2016 election.

Diana Vivienne Laidlaw AM, commonly referred to as Di Laidlaw, is an Australian former Liberal politician. She was a member of the South Australian Legislative Council (1982–2003) and held several ministerial posts.

Dennis Garry Edward Hood is an Australian politician who has been a member of the South Australian Legislative Council since 2006. He represented the Family First Party from 2006 to 2017, the Australian Conservatives from 2017 to 2018, and has represented the Liberal Party since just after the 2018 state election.

Marion Maddox FAHA was an Australian author, academic, and political commentator. She was a professor in the department of Modern History, Politics and International Relations at Macquarie University. She was a regular commentator on issues of religion and politics in the Australian media and was a member of the Uniting Church. She authored the book God Under Howard: The rise...

Werry Darta Taifur is an Indonesian economist and professor who is currently serving as the Rector of Andalas University. He was sworn into office by Minister of Education Mohammad Nuh on 21 November 2011.

Ian Keith Hunter is an Australian politician, representing the South Australian Branch of the Australian Labor Party in the South Australian Legislative Council since the 2006 state election. Hunter served in the Cabinet of South Australia from October 2011 to 2018.

Katrine Anne Hildyard is an Australian politician representing the electoral district of Reynell in the Parliament of South Australia as a member of the South Australian Labor Party since the 2014 state election.

Zoe Lee Bettison is an Australian politician who has served as a member of the South Australian House of Assembly seat of Ramsay representing South Australian Labor since the 2012 Ramsay by-election.

Leanne Armand was an Australian professor of marine science. She was an expert in the identification of diatoms in the Southern Ocean. She was known for her contributions to the understanding of past Southern Ocean dynamics and sea ice as a result of her knowledge of diatom distributions and ecology.

Joseph Karl Szakacs is an Australian politician and trade unionist. He is a Labor Party member of the South Australian Legislative Assembly, representing the electoral district of Cheltenham since the 2019 Cheltenham by-election.

Christopher James Picton is an Australian politician representing the South Australian House of Assembly seat of Kaurna for the South Australian Branch of the Australian Labor Party since the 2014 state election. He has served as the Minister for Health and Wellbeing in the Malinauskas ministry since March 2022, previously shadowing the role while in opposition.

Antonio Piccolo is an Australian politician in the South Australian Branch of the Australian Labor Party as member for the South Australian House of Assembly seat of Light since the 2006 election. He is currently serving as the Deputy Speaker of the House of Assembly, a position he also held between 2011 and 2013.

Skye Louise Kakoschke-Moore is an Australian politician who was a Senator for South Australia in the Parliament of Australia from July 2016 until she resigned in November 2017 during the parliamentary eligibility crisis, following her realisation that she was a dual citizen. Kakoschke-Moore had served as Nick Xenophon Team whip and spokesperson for mental health, disability, Indigenous affairs, veteran's affairs,...

Katherine Margaret Ellis is an Australian former politician, who represented the Division of Adelaide in the Australian House of Representatives for the Australian Labor Party from 2004 until 2019. She served in multiple portfolios in the outer ministry of the 2007–2013 federal Labor government and was in the shadow cabinet after that. In March 2017 Ellis announced that she would...

Jacqueline Gail "Jackie" Huggins is an Aboriginal Australian author, historian, academic, and advocate for the rights of Indigenous Australians. She has been active in the reconciliation movement, and was co-commissioner for Queensland for the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from Their Families from 1995 to 1997. Until 2017, she was deputy director of...

Hannah Kent is an Australian writer, author of Burial Rites (2013),The Good People (2016), Devotion (2021), and a first memoir, Always Home, Always Homesick (2025).

Hetifah Sjaifudian is an Indonesian campus activist and politician who became a member of the House of Representatives (DPR) from 2009 to 2014 and 2019–present. Additionally, she was designated as Vice Chairman of Commission X in 2019-2024. She is in favor of developing hinterlands and border areas.

Gordon Greig Pickhaver AM is an Australian actor, comedian and writer, who forms one half of the satirical sports comedy duo Roy and HG as the excitable sports announcer HG Nelson. The award-winning duo teamed up in 1986 for the Triple J radio comedy program This Sporting Life, and were broadcast nationwide for 22 years, leading to several successful television...

Kia Silverbrook is an Australian independent inventor and scientist. He is one of the most prolific inventors in the world, and has been granted 4,747 US utility patents as of 14 February 2022. Internationally, he has 9,874 patents or patent applications registered at the international patent document database (INPADOC). Silverbrook has founded companies and developed products in a wide range...

Melissa Bergland is an Australian actress best known for her role as Jenny Gross in the Seven Network drama Winners & Losers.

John Charles Bannon AO was an Australian politician and academic. He was the 39th Premier of South Australia, leading the South Australian Branch of the Australian Labor Party from a single term in opposition back to government at the 1982 election.

Amanda Louise Rishworth is an Australian politician. She is a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and has been Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations in the Albanese government since 2025. She was previously the Minister for Social Services from 2022 to 2025, as well as the Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme in 2025. She has been...

Rini Widyantini is an Indonesian politician serving as Minister of State Apparatus Utilization and Bureaucratic Reform since 2024. Being the first woman to hold the office, Rini served in a multitude of positions in the ministry before being appointed as minister, such as the deputy for institutional and governance affairs from 2012 to 2022 and the ministry's secretary from 2022...

Jenny Leong, an Australian politician, is a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly representing Newtown for the Greens since 2015. Leong is the first person to represent Newtown in its current form, as it was created for the 2015 election.

Kevin John Hogan is an Australian politician who has served as deputy leader of the National Party since May 2025. He has been a member of the House of Representatives since 2013, representing the Division of Page in New South Wales. He was an assistant minister in the Morrison government from 2020 to 2022.

Aimée Rene Horne is an Australian actress and singer. She has worked in film, theatre, radio and television and is an established voice-over artist. She is a graduate of the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA).

Susan Elizabeth Close is an Australian public servant and environmental advocate who entered politics and served as Deputy Premier of South Australia in the Malinauskas ministry from 2022 to 2025.

Peter Goers OAM is a South Australian arts critic, producer, director, columnist and author who hosted The Evening Show for over twenty years on ABC Radio Adelaide, broadcasting throughout South Australia and to Broken Hill. Goers presented his final Evening Show with a live audience at Her Majesty's Theatre, Adelaide on Thursday November 30, 2023. His career spans over 40...

Siale ʻAtaongo Kaho, Lord Tuʻivakanō is a Tongan politician who served as the prime minister of Tonga from 2010 to 2014.

Brendan John Nelson AO is an Australian business leader, physician and former politician. He served as the federal Leader of the Opposition from 2007 to 2008, going on to serve as Australia's senior diplomat to the European Union and NATO. He currently serves in a global leadership role with Boeing.

Robert Scott Hicks is an Australian film director, producer and screenwriter. He is best known as the director of Shine, the biopic of pianist David Helfgott, for which he was nominated for two Academy Awards (Best Director and Best Original Screenplay). Other films he has directed include the film adaptations of Stephen King's Hearts in Atlantis and Nicholas Sparks' The...

Rebekha Carina Sharkie is an Australian politician and member of the Centre Alliance party. She is a member of the Australian House of Representatives, representing the Division of Mayo in South Australia.

Xavier Samuel is an Australian film and theatre actor. He has appeared in leading roles in the feature films Adore, September, Further We Search, Newcastle, The Loved Ones, Frankenstein, A Few Best Men, and played Riley Biers in The Twilight Saga: Eclipse and Billy in Spin Out. He also starred as Cass Chaplin in Blonde.

Terence Chi-Shen Tao FAA FRS is an Australian and American mathematician. He is a Fields medalist and a professor of mathematics at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where he holds the James and Carol Collins Chair in the College of Letters and Sciences. His research includes topics in harmonic analysis, partial differential equations, algebraic combinatorics, arithmetic combinatorics, geometric...

Richard James Dunbar "Harry" Harris SC, OAM, PBh is an Australian anaesthetist and cave diver who has served as the Lieutenant Governor of South Australia since 2024. Harris is best known for having played a crucial role in the Tham Luang cave rescue in Thailand in 2018. He has dived to 245m (804 ft) and is the first person known...

Pratikno is an Indonesian politician and academic. He currently serving as Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Cultural Affairs. He also served as the Minister / Secretary of State of Indonesia in the Onward Indonesia Cabinet, the cabinet appointed by President Joko Widodo for his second term in office 2019–2024.

Mamoru "Mark" Mohri, AM is a Japanese scientist, a former NASDA astronaut, and a veteran of two NASA Space Shuttle missions. He is the first Japanese astronaut who was part of an official Japanese space program. The first Japanese person in space, Toyohiro Akiyama, was a journalist who was trained in the Soviet Union.

Rodney Allen Brooks is an Australian roboticist, Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, author, and robotics entrepreneur, most known for popularizing the actionist approach to robotics. He was a Panasonic Professor of Robotics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and former director of the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. He is a founder and former Chief Technical...

Gary Sweet is an Australian film and television actor known for his roles in Alexandra's Project (as Steve), Police Rescue (as Sergeant 'Mickey' McClintock), Cody (as Cody), Big Sky (as Chris Manning), Bodyline (as Donald Bradman), Stingers (as DI Luke Harris) and House Husbands (as Lewis Crabb).

Bernard Patrick "Doc" Neeson OAM was an Australian singer-songwriter and musician. He was the front man for the hard rock band The Angels from its formation in February 1976 through to 1999. The band then split up and reformed in 2008 after a lengthy legal battle where Doc resumed his place as front man. For the group, Neeson was the...

Leonie Elva "Noni" Hazlehurst AM is an Australian actress, director, writer, presenter, and broadcaster who has appeared on television and radio, in dramas, mini-series, and made for television films, as well also on stage and in feature films since the early 1970s. Hazlehurst has been honoured with numerous awards, including Australian Film Institute Awards, ARIA Awards and Logies, including being...

Joseph Cheng Yu-shek, JP is a Hong Kong political scientist and democracy activist. He was the secretary general of the Civic Party and convenor of pro-democratic groups including Power for Democracy and Alliance for True Democracy.

Agnes Milowka was an Australian technical diver, underwater photographer, author, maritime archaeologist and cave explorer. She gained international recognition for penetrating deeper than previous explorers into cave systems across Australia and Florida, and as a public speaker and author on the subjects of diving and maritime archaeology. She died aged 29 while diving in a confined space.