The Manager of Societal Transformation’s sense of adventure has taken her around the world, but UNSW is still where she wants to be.
Rebecca ‘Becma’ Martin, in the Division of Societal Impact, Equity and Engagement (SIEE), has had the travel bug for as long as she can remember.
“I’ve always liked the outdoors and adventures. I used to go camping a lot with my family as a kid,” she says.
“But it was at the start of Year 12, when I went on a three-week tour around the US with students from other local high schools, that I was properly introduced to the excitement of solo travel.”
The experience ignited her sense of adventure, and Rebecca found herself working part time and saving so she could venture abroad between semesters at the University of Wollongong. While performing well in her studies – she earned a place on the Dean’s Merit List for Academic Excellence in 2013 – Rebecca’s real focus was on experiencing the wider world.
“My best friend and I did a seven-week trip throughout the UK, then Morocco, Spain, Greece and Turkey. I was so privileged to be able to have that experience,” Rebecca says.
“I didn’t have a mortgage then, so I could just save all my money and go and spend it on Moroccan jewellery and it was fine.”
A big move
After graduating and working a year at Macquarie University, Rebecca set out on her biggest journey yet – moving to London. There she found herself back in an education environment, this time as a Governance Administrator with E-ACT, one of the UK’s largest multi-academy trusts.
In that role, Rebecca travelled around the UK, visiting schools in places such as Bristol, Birmingham and Sheffield. She spent her weekends visiting as much of Europe as possible.
“I love attending gigs, so that was always an excuse to visit another city” Rebecca says. “I ended up seeing Bob Dylan in Nottingham, Robert Plant in Belfast, Paul McCartney in Munich and Phil Collins in Paris.”
Returning home after two years abroad, Rebecca saw a job opening for a Board and Committee Coordinator and Administrative Officer with the Governance Unit at UNSW.
“It was closing that day, so, with my budgie Ronald on my shoulder, I smashed out the application and pretty much straight away was invited for an interview,” she says.
Eight years have passed since Rebecca started her first role at UNSW and she hasn’t looked back, now leading the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Program in the Office of the Pro Vice-Chancellor, Societal Transformation and Equity.
“I love working here,” she says.
A rendezvous in Italy
In 2022, Rebecca hopped on a plane with her father and headed for Italy. It was her first overseas trip since the COVID-19 pandemic.
“One of my main hobbies is road cycling, so when my dad told me he was going to meet some friends overseas to go cycling, I immediately asked if I could tag along,” Rebecca says.
“We ended up in a small northern Italian town near Bologna called Faenza. On the first evening when we arrived, an Italian cousin had prepared this amazing spread of homemade pasta, salad and all the cured meats Bologna is known for.”
It was the middle of a heatwave, but that didn’t stop Rebecca and her companions from tackling a 100-kilometre ride from Faenza into the mountains nearby.
“At the top of the mountains, we discovered a stream, hopped off our bikes and jumped in. It was freezing cold and so incredible. Then, on the way home, we stopped at all these little towns for water and fuelled ourselves on pasta with the most amazing local olive oil as well as gelato.”
Adventures closer to home
Now, Rebecca is uniting her professional and family lives with her love of travelling.
"I do a lot of camping now. Those are the little trips I can do alongside my family without leaving Australia,” she says.
“I feel as if I have come full circle and returned to the trips I loved as a kid.”
Rebecca also describes cycling as one of her “more accessible adventures for now”, letting her explore places in Sydney she wouldn’t normally see.
While her personal trips remain close to home for the time being, her work with UNSW has led to more exciting encounters abroad.
These opportunities include supporting UNSW delegations to United Nations partnership meetings in Bangkok, visiting New York for the United Nations’ Summit of the Future and representing UNSW at the Global Sustainable Development Congress in Istanbul.
“I have been so lucky to be the right person in the right place at the right time to take on these opportunities.”
What’s something about you that might surprise your colleagues?
I spent a week as part of a crew sailing a small catamaran from Cairns to Brisbane in 2015.
What’s the best advice you ever received?
A referral to my curly hairdresser, Project One!
What makes you happy?
Gelato, op-shopping and foraging for flowers. Spending time with my partner, Mick, our families and our cats. My little nephew born in January is the most wonderful thing ever.
What day in your life would you like to relive?
Either a day spent walking up Mount Snowdon in Wales with my younger sibling Ember in 2016, or the 106-kilometre 40-degree cycling day in Northern Italy to the Apennine foothills with my dad and our friend JP in 2022.
What’s the best thing you have seen in the last year?
The Dangerously Modern exhibition at the Art Gallery of NSW – an incredible collection of work by pioneering Australian and New Zealand women artists.
Know a colleague with a good story? Email us at: insideunsw@unsw.edu.au
- Log in to post comments