[2] Before retiring in 2019, Wanna was the Foundation Professor with the Sir John Bunting Chair of Public Administration at the Australia and New Zealand School of Government (ANZSOG) based at the ANU.
Prior to 2019, Wanna was the leading scholar with ANZSOG at ANU and held the position of National Research Director for the School.
[8] In addition to his scholarly output, Wanna is a regular political commentator on TV (ABC, SBS, Sky, Channels 9 and 7, and international broadcasters) and the print media (The Australian, The Courier-Mail, The Saturday Paper, the Australian Financial Review, and The Conversation).
[11] He sits on a number of editorial boards and was editor of the Australian Journal of Public Administration from late 1995 to 2015.
Wanna was formerly Professor of Politics and Public Policy at Griffith University in Brisbane, Queensland.
Some of the titles include: Wanna has received ARC nationally competitive research grants, the most recent ones include:[19] In addition, he has received funding from federal and state government departments for commissioned research and was awarded grant to explore government involvement with the not-for-profit third sector.