Australian deputy army chief next UN military advisor

Australia's deputy army chief Cheryl Pearce is to be a top advisor for UN peacekeeping operations. (HANDOUT/ROYAL AUSTRALIAN NAVY)

Australia's deputy army chief has been appointed as a top military advisor for United Nations peacekeeping operations. 

Major General Cheryl Pearce will become the deputy military advisor after more than 35 years of military experience, including as a force commander of the UN peacekeeping force in Cyprus from 2019 and 2021.

She also served as commander of the Australian Joint Task Force Group in Afghanistan in 2016, as army headquarters chief of staff between 2013 and 2016 and as a UN military observer in East Timor in 2002.

Cheryl Pearce (left) shown with then Defence Minister Marise Payne (centre) in Afghanistan in 2016. (HANDOUT/Department of Defence)

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres announced the major general would succeed Ireland's Major General Maureen O'Brien on Friday. 

Major General Pearce has a masters in policing, intelligence and counter-terrorism and a second in defence studies.