Curtin University Vice-Chancellor, Professor Harlene Hayne CNZM, became Chair of the Australian Technology Network of Universities in April 2023.
Professor Hayne has been the Vice-Chancellor of Curtin University since April 2021, prior to this she was the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Otago, in New Zealand, since 2011.
Originally from the United States, Professor Hayne received a Bachelor of Arts from Colorado College, and a Master of Science and PhD in Behavioural Neuroscience from Rutgers University. She spent three years as a post-doctoral fellow at Princeton before joining the University of Otago in 1992, subsequently serving as Head of the Psychology Department and as Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research and Enterprise before being appointed as Vice-Chancellor. Professor Hayne has been awarded continuous research funding since 1992 and continues to conduct research and has published widely in the areas of memory development and adolescent risk taking.
During her tenure at Otago, Professor Hayne was Chair of Universities New Zealand and the Universities New Zealand Research Committee and a member of the Board of Treasury and the Board of Fulbright New Zealand. She is a current member of the Board of Fulbright Australia. In 2009 she was awarded the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to scientific and medical research. She received an Honorary Doctor of Science degree from Colorado College, USA, in 2012, and an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree by the University of Otago in 2021. In 2022, she was made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit (CNZM), in recognition of her services to health and wellbeing.