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Hi everyone,

As most of you are aware, we are in a period of formalised change at the University. I know this has been an unsettling time for ANU and it’s already taken a toll. And while sitting in periods of uncertainty is part of our current higher education environment, that does not make it any better at a human, personal level.

I know all of this is very hard, and I know this is a different conversation about ANU than the ones we would all like to be having. It is certainly not the way I thought I would spend my first 18-months in this job. For me, ANU has always been a remarkable place. It was magical when I was a kid here and today, I know it to be genuinely amazing. And I am proud of all the ways we transform people’s lives and do good work for the nation – but to keep doing that, we do have to change and evolve. And that’s never easy; especially right now, and I am so grateful each and every day for everyone’s work, energy and dedication to support the University in all its endeavours.

Five weeks ago we shared the Nixon Review with our community, and we committed to give an update this week. Key members of the executive team have taken clear responsibility for a range of recommendations and thanks to them and many other people around the University, we have already made some good progress on the recommendations, and there is more that can and will happen within the next couple of weeks and months. The in On Campus, which I encourage everyone to review, talks to each individual recommendation, the actions taken and the work that is ongoing, including completing the EOI for the small working groups focused on key areas and findings. These working groups will be an important way to tackle our challenges and opportunities in productive and collegiate and ultimately impactful ways.

Since becoming VC, I’ve spent a lot of time in smaller interactions with students and staff, as opposed to large gatherings. This has been a deliberate choice because I find it leads to more engaging and deeper dialogue, and to more opportunities for connection and community. I think smaller interactions are the places where you have the most constructive dialogues because everyone can feel more confident to use their voice. But I know this doesn’t work for everyone and it’s a constant balance, to ensure we create opportunities for engagement that are accessible, both in content, timing and format. One approach will never suit everyone. That’s why, for Renew ANU,  we have tried lots of different communications, including adding a lot of content and data to the website, holding all kinds of events in person and hybrid and fully online and even posted videos, and we will keep doing so. Colleagues in CASS and COSM are also working on how they engage with local staff, including pre-consultation.

I also know we need to have more and different conversations, about what comes next, about the future of the University, about what we all want for this remarkable place, and about the challenges and the possibilities. And I know it is also hard to contemplate the future when there is so much uncertainty in the present. I was lucky enough to have a really interesting conversation with ANU alumna Katy Gallagher recently about how to have conversations in different kinds of ways – and I am planning, from next week, to introduce “facing the future together” meetings. These will be small, around 15-20 staff, and I’ll hold a couple a week for the coming months to answer questions from our community and to start creating a space where we can talk about what comes next, together. There will need to be some guardrails, to ensure everyone who attends feels safe to share their opinions and ask questions and to help make sure we can have good discussions. Further details about these discussions will be available via On Campus next week.

I know for some people there could be trepidation about participating in these conversations with me, after all, a lot has been made in the media of a comment of mine last year, and about what it might say about me as a leader and a person. And the reality of it is, I made a comment in a leadership meeting about the importance of information security. And while I thought I was speaking in jest, and no one in the room has raised it with me since, I clearly made some of my colleagues uncomfortable, which is an awful thing to know and to sit with. It was a poor choice of words which I wouldn’t use again.

In times like these, it can be hard to be kind, and hard to find the goodness in people and institutions. And I know for many of our colleagues and friends across the University, there is a very hard time indeed. But I also know that each of us shows up every day wanting to make this place better, to do good work and to ensure we support each other, and our national university. And I am determined to continue to be one of those people. ANU matters to me, so does its future. So I hope that I will see many of you at the “facing the future together” conversations in coming weeks and months. And I know, that like me, you will all continue to show up each day wanting the best for this place and its future.

Good thoughts to where this may find you,
Genevieve