Adjunct Associate Professor Rob Hess joined the History Council of Victoria in March 2017, representing Victoria University where he is a member of the Institute for Health and Sport. He served on the HCV's Executive Committee from 2017 to 2019.

Rob has a long-standing interest in the social history of sport. His PhD was the first ever doctoral study of the history of Australian Rules football, and he has published widely on the development of the code, including a recent co-authored book, Play On! The Hidden History of Women’s Australian Rules Football. Rob is also a past president of the Australian Society for Sports History and he currently serves as a regional academic editor for the International Journal of the History of Sport.