Welcome to our new Vice Chancellor

The Scholarly Information Services (SIS) Division is excited to welcome our new Vice Chancellor, Distinguished Professor Genevieve Bell. 

With a stellar career encompassing academia and the tech industry in Silicon Valley, Professor Bell launched the ANU School of Cybernetics in 2021. Having also served as the first Director of the 3AI Institute, and a member of the Prime Minister’s National Science and Technology Council, Professor Bell has a staggeringly impressive resume. 

That’s not even mentioning her many publications covering topics from reading science fiction alongside ubiquitous computing, to an anthropological account of life during the COVID-19 pandemic, and many other topics in the space where data, technology and anthropology collide. 

Genevieve’s work on data and its applications in anthropology (the study of human societies and cultures) has strengthened our understanding of the value data has in better understanding human behaviour, noting “Everything we do produces data, and at the same time data is shaping our world and our futures”. 

In 2020 she relaunched the ANU data commons, the University’s own research data repository, helped promote the database to ANU researchers and encouraged them to add their own data to the repository. The Commons significantly benefits researchers, as the more data collected in this space, the more effectively it can be applied to address real world questions and issues. Professor Bell’s own research is freely available via ANU Open Research. 

The SIS Division is looking thrilled to welcome Professor Bell. We look to her leadership as we continue to ready for and embrace our technological future and make the most of the possibilities data, digital networks and technological solutions can offer.