Professor Stephen Garton is Principal Advisor to the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Sydney. He has held senior management positions at the University for over twenty years, including Dean of the Arts Faculty, Provost and Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor and interim Vice-Chancellor. 

His areas of research expertise include Australian, American and British history. He was appointed Professor of History in 2000 and Challis Professor in 2004 and is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities, the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia, the Royal Australian Historical Society and the Royal Society of NSW. 

He has an outstanding reputation for his administrative skills and known to be a natural conciliator and has authored or co-authored eight books and over ninety academic articles, including articles on poverty, welfare and social policy. 

In 2020, Stephen was appointed a Member (AM) of the Order of Australia in the General Division for significant service to tertiary education administration, and to history. 

Stephen joined the Australian Scholarships Limited board in 2020 and was Interim Chair of the Board from November 2021 till September 2022.