Rachel Hennessy is the Manager of the National Priorities and Industry Linkages Fund project at the University of Southern Queensland (UniSQ), where she leads the award-winning Virtual Work Integrated Learning (V-WIL) initiative. She has a Bachelor of Business and Commerce from UniSQ and a Master of Corporate Governance and Leadership from Curtin University. 

Rachel has over 14 years of experience in the higher education sector, and she is passionate about creating meaningful, student-centred learning experiences that bridge the gap between education and industry. She drives strategic innovation in V-WIL, fostering sector-wide engagement and embedding authentic, scalable models into curriculum to enhance graduate employability.

A committed advocate for Work Integrated Learning, Rachel serves on the WIL Australia QLD Chapter and regularly presents nationally, sharing insights on industry collaboration, authentic learning design, and transformative WIL frameworks.