Ensuring effective university governance and leadership is more important than ever before given contemporary transformations of higher education functions, institutions and social roles. This paper reports contributions which seek to stimulate research in this field. Drawing from the formative case study of Australian universities, it discusses prevailing insights and gaps in leadership research, and articulates theoretical dimensions of good governance, an analytical framework for studying the empirical nature and work of university senior leaders, and the characteristics of contemporary arrangements. The paper contributes methodological approaches, analytical frameworks and empirical insights which are designed to generalize and replicate in broader research.