Andrew Hudson (Wyvern 1996), Wyvern of the Year 2024, could be described as a person of reason with unreasonable optimism. For 30 years, he has devoted his life to fighting injustice, dedicated to making the world a better place, mainly for people he will never meet.

Andrew’s mother died when he was young, and as an only child, he was always an independent person, so coming to Queen’s made sense to him.

“I was keen to get out and live in the real world and make the most of the university experience. Of the colleges, I liked Queen’s the most as it was the most well-rounded and social college as in it wasn’t just about academia and sport, but also community, and extra-curricular activities. I was involved in the Queen’s production ‘Noises Off’. The play was so much fun. We played to packed, sold out and adoring crowds at Melbourne Uni – well that’s how I remember it anyway. The crew and cast were exceptional, and many of us are still friends now.” 

Andrew’s commitment to human rights started early. He was Australia’s first Youth Representative to the UN before gaining an honours degree in politics and law from the University of Melbourne. He used a John Monash scholarship to gain a Master of Laws from New York University School of Law and lived in the city for most of the past two decades. Through his roles at Human Rights First and Crisis Action, Andrew has worked at the top levels of international diplomacy: endeavouring to end and prevent armed conflicts, to reform international laws, and to better support refugees, political dissidents and disadvantaged clients.

“For the past 30 years, since starting at Queen’s, I have promoted social change for disadvantaged people. Whether they are women who were horrendously raped as a deliberate war tactic in Congo, or helping Rohingya refugees who are fleeing genocide in Myanmar, or seeking to bring in a universal early childhood education and care system in Australia that will most benefit First Peoples and marginalised families. I’ve always been passionate about building collaborations and seeking high-level policy reform that can improve the lives of millions of disadvantaged people.” 

Crisis Action works with individuals and global civil society to protect civilians from armed conflict and prevent mass atrocities. As its CEO, Andrew led a global team of more than 50 people in 11 countries, working to build coalitions to protect civilians in wars in Syria, Yemen and South Sudan.

 “My time at Crisis Action was incredibly rewarding. As a small non-profit, we built unusual coalitions that convinced some of the most powerful politicians to take decisive action to protect civilians in war zones. For example, in Central African Republic, with ethnic cleansing threatening to worsen into all-out genocide, we managed to convince the UN Security Council to dispatch a peacekeeping force that we know saved thousands of lives. We helped to secure a breakthrough first-ever agreement for the UN to send cross-border aid convoys to reach three million starving Syrians. We pushed for a peace agreement that ended the war in the world’s newest nation, South Sudan. We helped prevent an attack on the vital lifeline of Hodeidah port in Yemen that enabled aid to continue to flow to tens of millions of people (sadly under threat again). And we convinced Banksy to re-release his iconic ‘girl with a red balloon’ image to mark the anniversary for the war in Syria. We helped bring some hope to civilians caught in the horrors of war.”  

Currently, as CEO for the Centre for Policy Development, Andrew is working on big policy reforms in Australia and Southeast Asia such as ensuring a just energy transition and reformed social services in Australia, so that government gets the economy to work for people rather than people working for the economy. 

“When working in not-for-profits you need to have ‘unreasonable optimism’. Fighting injustice and changing systems is exhausting and difficult. Only by having unreasonable optimism can you keep going, achieve success, and help change the world.”

 Queen’s congratulates and thanks Andrew for his work towards making the world a better place. We are proud to have Andrew Hudson as the 2024 Wyvern of the Year.