McKenzie Chair

Establishing a new intellectual agenda

The Australian National University (ANU) College of Engineering, Computing and Cybernetics is embarking on an ambitious agenda to reimagine engineering and computing to launch our society into the middle of the 21st Century. We are bringing non-traditional skills to engineering and computing to put people in the centre of delivering solutions to global challenges.

The Florence McKenzie Chair is part of this agenda and is proudly named in honour of Florence Violet McKenzie (née Wallace), Australia’s first female electrical engineer. Florence McKenzie exemplifies the pioneering spirit and lifelong pursuit of inclusive use of technology in society this Chair represents, and we proudly acknowledge and celebrate Florence Violet McKenzie and her legacy.

Through the establishment of this Chair, we begin the task of redefining what it means to exist in a technologically driven world and how to drive fit-for-purpose technological development.

Inaugural McKenzie Chairholder

Vice-Chancellor and President Genevieve Bell

Vice-Chancellor and President Genevieve Bell Genevieve Bell is a cultural anthropologist and a recognised world leader in the ethnographic approach to the development, shaping and use of technology. Genevieve joined the ANU in February 2017, from global innovation company Intel, where she served as a Vice President and was the first woman in the company’s history to be appointed an Intel Senior Fellow. She then became Vice-Chancellor and President of the Australian National University in 2024.

The significant appointment of Genevieve as Chairholder is a critical step in setting new educational ambitions and goals, establishing new creative research directions, and having direct policy and economic impact. We are critically positioned at the vanguard of redefining the professions of “engineer”, “technologist” and “computing professional” and creating a new frontier of engineering and computing to drive discovery and change in the world.

Scholarships

Recruiting for the Future

The Australian National University (ANU) College of Engineering and Computer Science is embarking on an ambitious agenda to reimagine engineering and computing to launch our society into the middle of the 21st Century. We are bringing non-traditional skills to engineering and computing to put people in the centre of delivering solutions to global challenges.

Each year the School of Cybernetics in the ANU College of Engineering and Computer Science (College) may offer up to 10 awards known as the FMK Supplementary Scholarship (Award).The objective of this Award is to provide funding for outstanding domestic or international students to enable them to pursue a PhD program in the New Branch of Engineering developed by SOCY. Learn more about this scholarship.

The objective of the Award is to support students who are undertaking the School of Cybernetics’ Master of Applied Cybernetics. The Award aims to remove barriers to entry and to encourage diversity through recognition of individual background, education, industry experience and aspiration. We are flexible about qualifications and welcome applicants that can demonstrate passion and experience that is relevant to the field of cybernetics. Learn more about this scholarship.

To support the Florence McKenzie Chair and play a significant founding role in the next generation of engineering and technology contact us.