We are delighted to announce that Professor Margaret Harding has accepted the position as the next Independent Chair of the Board of the National Imaging Facility (NIF).

Margaret Harding is an experienced Board Director and higher education Senior Executive. She is currently Board Chair of NSW Circular, non-Executive Director at SmartSat CRC, Professor Emeritus at the Australian National University and an Honorary Fellow at the National Measurement Institute. She holds BSc (Hons), PhD and DSc degrees in chemistry from the University of Sydney.

Margaret has held Senior Executive roles across higher education, most recently serving as Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Innovation) at the Australian National University (2012-18), where she was responsible for the strategies, policies and systems to enhance the University’s performance and reputation in research and research training.

Margaret’s Board roles have spanned consulting and business development, research infrastructure, medicine and health, and collaborative partnerships. She has served as Director on the Boards of ANU Enterprise, Australian Scientific Instruments, Neuroscience Research Australia, Bionic Vision Australia (Alternate Director) and was a member of the Governing Boards of the National Computational Infrastructure, the National Centre for Indigenous Genomics, and the Australia Indonesia Centre. She was Chair of the Australian Giant Magellan Telescope Committee, a member of the NSW State Government Review of Health and Medical Research Panel and of the Australian Research Council Advisory Council.

NIF is a $300 million project providing state-of-the-art imaging capability of humans, animals, plants, and materials for the Australian research community. NIF’s grid of imaging facilities spreads across Australia, offering a range of leading-edge imaging instrumentation and expertise in the optimal use of imaging technology to the Australian research community. Through the facilities and knowledge supported by NIF, researchers are exploring inner space for human health, agriculture, food security, crops, livestock, materials, specimens, composites, ecology and biosciences applications.

We would also like to take this opportunity to express our sincere thanks and gratitude to the retiring chair, Prof Andrew Cheetham. Under Andrew’s leadership, NIF has grown considerably and a huge number of research programs have benefited from the NIF infrastructure that Andrew played a key role in delivering for Australia.

We look forward to working with Margaret on NIF’s next exciting chapter.