Professor Joe Chicharo OM is the Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor at the University of Wollongong and has previously held the positions of Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic), Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Global Strategy), Deputy Vice-Chancellor (International), and, Pro Vice-Chancellor (International). Whilst at UOW he has served as Dean, Head of School, Research Director and Managing Director of Telecommunications, Engineering and Information Technology entities amongst other roles.

Professor Chicharo joined the University of Wollongong in 1985 as a Lecturer within the School of Electrical, Computer and Telecommunications Engineering. Prior to this appointment, he spent ten years working in the steel industry (BHP) firstly as a degree Trainee and subsequently as an Electrical Engineer and Senior Engineer. He has a distinguished academic and research track record having published over 230 refereed papers in prestigious journals and conferences. His research contributions are well cited and he has been the recipient of a number of best paper prizes such as by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). Professor Chicharo has been highly successful in attracting nationally competitive research grants as well as substantial industry sponsorship for research work at UOW.

He served as the inaugural President of the Australian Council of Deans of Information and Communication Technology and as Chair of the Mathematical, Information and Computing Sciences, Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) assessment exercise. He was Chair of the Australian Research Council – Mathematics, Information and Communication Sciences Panel and has served as an Editor of the IEEE Transaction on Circuits and Systems, Part II.

Professor Joe Chicharo was awarded an Order of Merit (Portugal) (OM) in the 2007 Honours list to honour distinguished services in the public and private sphere.