Professor Ian Chubb, until February this year the vice-chancellor of the Australian National University, has been named as Australia's new Chief Scientist.

 

Professor Chubb will take up the three-year full-time appointment on 23 May. He replaces Professor Penny Sackett who resigned from the position part-way through her term, citing “personal and professional” reasons, and later stating that she had not met with the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard.

 

Prior to his ten-year term as Vice-Chancellor of the Australian National University, he was Vice-Chancellor of Flinders University of South Australia for six years and the Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Monash University for two years while simultaneously the Foundation Dean of the Faculty of Business and Economics for 16 months.

 

From 1986 to 1990, he was Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the University of Wollongong and an Honorary Professor of Biology. His research focused on the neurosciences.