1944-45 Discussions commence between intellectual and administrators, including H.C. ‘Nugget’ Coombs, Alfred Conlon and Roy Douglas ‘Pansy’ Wright, set the scene for the establishment of a National University.

April 1946 H.C. Coombs meets with prominent academics in England, some of them Australian ex-patriots, including the medical scientist Howard Florey, the historian W.K. Hancock and physicist Mark Oliphant, on the proposed Australian National University.

1 August 1946 Federal Parliament passes the Bill establishing the Australian National University.

September 1946 The first meeting of the Interim Council of the ANU takes place in the Senate Committee Room in Parliament House.

1947 Brian Lewis, Professor of Architecture at the University of Melbourne, is appointed Consulting Architect to design the ANU’s major buildings.

March 1948 Sir Douglas Copland is appointed the first Vice-Chancellor of the University.

April 1948 In Easter of 1948, the Interim Council and the Academic Advisory Committee, consisting of Florey, Hancock, Oliphant and anthropologist Raymond Firth, meets to discuss the shape of the University. The meeting takes place at the Institute of Anatomy Building, which now houses the National Film and Sound Archive.

1948 A.L.G. McDonald is appointed at the University’s first librarian.

24 October 1949 Prime Minister Ben Chifley and Minister for Post-War Reconstruction John Dedman lay the foundation stone for the John Curtin School of Medical Research.

1950 The first academic staff members arrive to take up their appointments at the ANU. At this time, there are very few buildings to house them.

12 July 1951 The first meeting of the ANU Council, which succeeds the Interim Council appointed in 1946.

7 December 1951 The ANU confers its first degree, an Honorary Doctorate of Laws on Sir Robert Garran, one of the authors of the Australian constitution and a long-time advocate of university education in Canberra.

1952 The laboratories for the Research School of Physical Sciences, the University’s first permanent buildings, are opened.

23 October 1952 Lord Stanley Melbourne Bruce, former Prime Minister of Australia, is installed as the University’s first Chancellor.

1953 Noel Butlin, an economic historian at the Research School of Social Sciences, begins collecting Australian business records, which come to form the basis of the University’s Archives of Business and Labour (now Noel Butlin Archives Centre).

16 February 1954 University House is official opened by His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh.

1954 The ANU Design Unit is established. The Unit embraced a concept of ‘total integrated design’ and pursued a cohesive approach to architecture, urban planning, furniture, interiors, landscaping and graphic design across the campus.

1957 Mt Stromlo Observatory becomes part of the ANU through association with the Department of Astronomy in the Research School of Physical Sciences.

1960 ANU amalgamates with Canberra University College. The CUC becomes the School of General Studies, and undergraduate students become part of the ANU for the first time.

1961 Bruce Hall, the first residential hall for undergraduate students on campus, is occupied.

1961 The New Guinea Research Unit, part of the Research School of Pacific Studies, opens with a small group of support staff and academics in Canberra and New Guinea.

1963 Two University library buildings are opened: the R.G. Menzies Building and the J.B. Chifley Building.

1964 Lake Burley Griffin is flooded, skirting the southern edge of the ANU campus.

1964 Hanna Newmann is appointed Professor of Mathematics in the School of General Studies, becoming the University’s first female professor.

1965 The Australian Forestry School (established in Canberra in 1927) accepted its first students as a department in the ANU Faculty of Science.

1966 The ANU Film Group is established.

1967 The Research School of Chemistry and the Research School of Biological Science open, bringing the number of research schools to six.

1972 The Centre for Resource and Environmental Studies (CRES) is established, part of a trend to develop what was sometimes referred to as a ‘third dimension’, namely units and centres within the University.

1973 The North Australia Research Unit (NARU) is established to facilitate research on north Australia.

1974 The Humanities Research Centre is established.

1974 Around 100 students occupy the Chancelry Building to protest overcrowded classrooms, assessment requirements, and the lack of student involvement in course content. They also demand the creations of a Women's Studies course. Thirty students spend the night in the building.

1976 After extended debate, a separate Women’s Studies Program in the Faculty of Arts is established.

1977 First issue of the journal Aboriginal History is published

1977 An automated catalogue program and Computer Output Microform (COM) fiche catalogue equipment is installed in the main University Library centres.

1979 The School of General Studies is formally renamed The Faculties.

1984 A new 2.3-metre telescope is opened at the Siding Spring Observatory, which was closely linked with the Department of Astronomy in the Research School of Physical Sciences.

1987 The University purchases a ‘Fujitsu FACOM VP50 vector processor and establishes the ANU Super Computer Facility to house it.

1988 The National Centre for Epidemiology & Population Health (NCEPH) is established, with Bob Douglas as foundation director.

1989 The ANU Graduate School is established, intended to coordinate graduate teaching and resources across the University and to provide greater cohesion between the Institute of Advanced Studies and the Faculties.

1996 The total enrolment at ANU is 10,143 students. Of these, 2417 are postgraduate students and 7726 are undergraduate students. There are 1078 international students.

1996 Professors Peter Doherty and Rolf Zinkernagel receive the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine is awarded for work undertaken at the John Curtin School of Medical Research.

1996 A Disability Action Plan for the ANU, in accordance with guidelines provided by the Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission, will be developed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Committee for consideration by Council.

1996 The ANU Council adopts new procedures for dealing with sexual harassment. The changes are made as a result of a report to the ANU Council prepared by the Sexual Harassment Procedures Review Working Party, convened by Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Millicent Poole.

1996 Dr A Blakers of the Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology makes a new world record for solar cell efficiency for multicrystaline silicon substrates.

1996 Undergraduate students can now access the Internet and other networked services from 29 computing laboratories.

February 1996 Dr Graeme Laver, of the John Curtin School of Medical Research, is jointly awarded the Australia Prize in recognition of his contribution to the understanding and control of influenza.

April 1996 Prime Minister John Howard launches The Asia-Pacific Magazine, produced by the Research School of Pacific and Asian studies.

May 1996 The first ANU Corporate Style Manual, compiled by designer Kate Shackleford, is launched.

July 1996 Federal Minister for Science and Technology Peter McGauran officially opens the Superconducting Linear Accelerator (Linac) at a ceremony at the Academy of Science. The Linac is installed to boost the existing 14UD accelerator at the Department of Nuclear Physics.

1 August 1996 A celebratory congregation and conferring of degrees is held, marking the date on which Royal Assent was given to the Act which established the ANU.

1 August 1996 ANU launches its alumni association.

1 August 1996 The Making of The Australian National University 1946—1996 by Stephen Foster and Margaret Varghese is launched on Anniversary Day.

27 September 1996 Richard Dawkins opens the new Centre for the Public Awareness of Science.

November 1996 Sir David Attenborough opens the Botany and Zoology Building.

November 1996 The Major National Research Facility in Synchrotron Radiation comes into existence as a registered entity, and the ANU becomes one of the founding members of the Australian Synchrotron Research Program.

1997 The University's total student enrolment is 9,936. International students enrollments are 1033.

1997 The University begins a wide-ranging restructure of both administrative and academic areas to cut its costs. ANU introduces a voluntary redundancy scheme and a freeze on new, permanent administrative appointments. More than 280 staff leave ANU; most are 'general', that is, non-academic, staff. A program to sell off-campus housing is also initiated and the University's services, such as banking, travel, telephones and electricity, are put out to private tender.

1997 ANU decentralises information technology services. A University Email service is established.

25 January 1997 ANU immunologist Peter Doherty is announced as Australian of the Year.

May 1997 The ANU's first Aboriginal science graduate, Lynette Liddle, receives her degree.

August 1997 The Centre for the Mind is launched as part of the Institute of Advanced Studies.

September 1997 The Photonics Research Laboratory opens at the Research School of Physical Sciences and Engineering.

September 1997 A Parents' Room is opened in the Union Building as part of a Kids on Campus initiative to provide a safe, comfortable University environment for children of staff and students.

December 1997 The Federal Government selects ANU to establish a new, $5 million Centre for Democratic Institutions.

1998 ANU continues to cut administrative services amidst continued reductions in government funding. The University reports that '[i]n the last three years, Australian universities have confronted their harshest financial and administrative environment ever.'

1998 The total enrolment in 1998 is 9644 students, of which 7296 were undergraduates and 2348 were postgraduates.

1998 A new online service enables staff to access full details of their payslips and their leave balances from wherever they are working.

1998 A ten-year $219 million Capital Management Plan is established as a major initiative for maintaining the physical infrastructure of the University.

1998 ANU becomes the host institution for the Australian Partnership for Advanced Computing, which is established to strengthen Australia's supercomputing infrastructure.

1998 The Mount Stromlo and Siding Spring Observatories become the Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics (RSAA).

1998 The Asia Pacific School of Economics and Management (later Government) is established.

1998 Plans for new buildings on ANU's campus to extend research and teaching capabilities are approved by Council. The new buildings, funded from the Capital Management Plan, include an extension to the Hancock Library building, additional research facilities for the Research School of Earth Sciences, and a new Innovations Building to provide laboratories and office space for externally-funded researchers working with ANU staff.

1998 The ANU Art Collection acquires a painting by the late Aboriginal artist, Emily Kame Kngwarreye: Wild Flower Dreaming (acrylic on cotton, 1995).

1998 Amidst concern about the effects of One Nation's policies on potential students in Asia, ANU circulates a media release in Australia and Asia and on the BBC. It emphasises that racism, bigotry and xenophobia have no place on any Australian campus.

May 1998 At a ceremony attended by members of the diplomatic community, a special room is dedicated as a Muslim Prayer Centre for the University's 400 Muslim students.

August 1998 The University launches a Gender Equity Plan, setting 'out a framework and strategies for the full integration of women, at all levels and in all fora, so that they can realise their full potential as members of the University Community.' In 1998, women constitute 53.3% of the total undergraduate population and 48.3% of the total postgraduate population. The academic body teaching them is a long way from achieving these percentages.

September 1998: The UniSafe campus security program for staff and students is introduced.

1999 Students enrolled at the University totals 9648: 7235 undergraduates and 2413 postgraduates.

January 1999 The ANU Library subscribes to the largest online library information network: the Online Computer Library Centre's Electronic Collections Online. It is the first library in Australia to do so. The subscription gives ANU staff and students access to 2000 journals.

April 1999 ANU Green is launched, with initiatives to improve energy and water management.

August 1999 Prime Minister John Howard officially opens the Sir Roland Wilson Building, which houses sections of the Asia Pacific School of Economics and Management, including the Australia Asia Management Centre and the Graduate Program in Public Policy.

December 1999 Work starts on a redevelopment of Union Court. The $2 million project will include the construction of an "amphitheatre" with grassed terraces and public artworks by Deborah Halpern.

2000 There are 2597 postgraduate students and 7042 undergraduate students enrolled, with a total enrolment of 9639. Of this total, 1184 are international students.

2000 Construction starts on a multi-storey carpark to accommodate about 350 cars in the Baldessin Precinct.

2000 The WebCT course management system is installed, allowing academics to publish course materials on the Web.

March 2000 ANU House is opened at 52 Collins Street, Melbourne.

March 2000 The University launches 'ANU Green' as its environmental policy, which will include energy and water audits, replacement of inefficient plant systems, better environmental design in buildings, and a biodiversity plan.

8 June 2000 The Emeritus Faculty of the ANU is launched.

July 2000 The Human Resources Online Remote User Service (HORUS) takes over as the full-time payslip provider for all ANU employees, replacing the fortnightly distribution of paper confirmations.

August 2000 His Excellency, the Governor-General, Sir William Deane presents the ANU Library with its two-millionth book—an Australian botanical book by Robert Sweet—in both print and virtual form.

September 2000 Former South African President Nelson Mandela visits ANU and receives an honorary Doctor of Laws.

31 December 2000 Professor Deane Terrell is succeeded by Professor Ian Chubb as Vice-Chancellor.

2001 The ANU's total student enrolment is 8425.

2001 Three schools replace the four departments that previously comprised the Faculty of Economics and Commerce the School of Business and Information Management, the School of Finance and Applied Statistics and the School of Economics.

March 2001 The ANU conducts a university-wide census on harassment and discrimination.

May 2001 Federal Minister for Education David Kemp officially opens the Australian Partnership for Advanced Computing (APAC) National Facility at the ANU.

June 2001 The ANU Council announces a major restructure of University governance including the creation of Deputy Vice-Chancellors for Research and Education and the establishment of twelve virtual National Institutes Arts, Asia and the Pacific, Bioscience, Economics and Business, Engineering and Information Sciences, Environment, Government and Law (later, Social Sciences and Law), Indigenous Australia, Health and Human Sciences, the Humanities, Physical Sciences, and Social Sciences (later, Social Sciences and Law).

October 2001 The ANU International Sculpture Park opens at Acton Peninsula.

2002 There are 8118 undergraduates enrolled at ANU.

2002 ANU publishes a Reconciliation Statement, expressing profound regret for the dispossession, inequalities and continuing disadvantage suffered by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and putting the sentiment of the Statement into action across campus.

April 2002 The Chinese Embassy donates more than 600 Chinese books, videos, CDs and audiotapes to the University.

2003 International students make up 19% of undergraduate enrolments and 33% of postgraduate enrolments.

2003 The Frank Fenner building opens on Daley Road, providing new facilities for the Faculty of Science and Medical School.

2003 The Medical School is accredited by the Australian Medical Council for the first intake of students in 2004.

2003 The National Institute of the Humanities and Creative Arts is established, bringing together the National Institutes of Arts and the Humanities.

2003 The Australian Centre for Indigenous History is established.

2003 Work begins on the Coombs Extension building, the new Phenomics Facility, the Bruce Hall extension, and extensions to the buildings of the National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health and the Centre for Mental Health Research. A major refurbishment of Chifley Library is also undertaken.

2003 The University launches a new marketing strategy with a 'brand awareness campaign designed to increase national awareness of the ANU as a university of eminence.'

January 2003 Bushfires engulf large parts of the ACT. The Mount Stromlo Observatory and the Weston research facilities are severely damaged by the fires.

March 2003 12,156 students are enrolled at ANU, of which 8295 are undergraduates and 3692 are postgraduates. There are 2814 international students.

December 2003 The National Institute of the Arts and the Faculty of Arts amalgamate, creating the largest faculty at the University.

2004 ANU announces the commissioning of a new telescope—the SkyMapper—which will be located at the Siding Spring Observatory, near Coonabarabran, and will produce the first comprehensive digital map of the Southern sky.

April 2004 ANU signs an agreement with the National University of Singapore (NUS), thereby establishing the first joint degree program between NUS and an Australian University.

24 September 2004 The report of the Independent Review of The Australian National University, which investigated the quality of the university's outcomes, is presented to Council.

October 2004 Mt Stromlo Observatory is re-opened after the destruction of the 2003 fires.

December 2004 ANU and the ACT Government sign a land deal that will see the creation of a modern education, research, accommodation and commercial precinct in Canberra's City West area.

2005 Dr Allan Hawke is appointed ANU's new Chancellor.

2005-2006 A disability access audit of the ANU campus is undertaken to investigate where physical accessibility needs to be improved.

2006 Seven ANU Colleges are formed, grouping together the Research Schools, Faculties and Centres. These are Arts and Social Sciences (including a Research School of Humanities); Asia and Pacific Studies; Business and Economics; Engineering and Information Technology; Law; Medicine and Health Services; and Science.

2006 Stage 1 of the John Curtin School of Medical Research (JCSMR) building is completed. The University receives $125 million in the 2006 Federal Budget to assist in redeveloping the JCSMR and other capital works, with $50 million allocated to Stage 2 of the JCSMR redevelopment.

2006 The Australian Dictionary of Biography Online is launched, offering 10,000 scholarly biographical articles on 11,237 important individuals from Australia's history.

2007 The Fenner School of Environment and Society is founded.

2007 An ANU heritage website is launched, including self-guided heritage walks around campus.

2007 The ANU College of Law organises the first conference on Climate Law in Australia.

2008 Kinloch Lodge, a new 520-bed student accommodation building, is completed. This brings the total number of beds available on campus to 3,700.

March 2008 Jackie Chan opens the Jackie Chan Science Centre, part of the John Curtin School of Medical Research building.

August 2008 Prime Minister Kevin Rudd opens the Hedley Bull Centre.

October 2008 The ANU Climate Change Institute (CCI) is launched at the National Press Club.

2009 ANU Professor, Mick Dodson is named Australian of the Year.

2009 Skymapper is launched at ANU Siding Spring Observatory. The $13 million telescope is the first new optical telescope in Australia for 25 years.

2009 The ANU YouTube channel is launched.

2009 Building work commences on Stage 3 of the John Curtin School of Medical Research.

February 2009 Professor Kim Beazley becomes the eleventh Chancellor of ANU.

27 March 2009 The ANU Council authorises a new Reconciliation Action Plan, which is launched on 30 July.

27 May 2009 Prime Minister Kevin Rudd opens the new building for the John Curtin School of Medical Research.

July 2009 The Federal Government announces $88.4 million of funding to enable ANU to lead Australia's participation in the Giant Magellan Telescope project.

December 2009 Former Australian Foreign Minister Gareth Evans is appointed Chancellor of ANU.

2010 Prime Minister Kevin Rudd launches the Australian National Institute for Public Policy (ANIPP).

2010 Australia's first university accommodation facility based on stacked, pre-fabricated shipping containers is opened to students at Ursula Hall.

2010 ANU implements a new system for Student Evaluation of Learning and Teaching (SELT).

2010 Implementation of the digital teaching and learning platform, 'Web Access To Teaching and Learning Environment' (WATTLE) is finalised.

April 2010 The Centre for China in the World is launched.

August 2010 ANU Classics Museum is reopened following a major refurbishment.

2011 ANU signs an agreement with Mongolia's national university, enabling joint education and research projects in archaeology, anthropology, human growth, nutrition and ecology and traditional Mongolian culture.

2011 ANU Professor Brian Schmidt is awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics for his part in discovering that the Universe is expanding at an accelerating rate.

2011 The Ethel Tory Centre opens, offering students and staff access to the latest in technology-based, flexible and interactive language learning facilities.

March 2011 Governor-General of Australia, Her Excellency Ms Quentin Bryce AC, officially opens the ANU Gender Institute.

March 2011 Professor Ian Young becomes Vice-Chancellor of ANU.

June 2011 As a political furore over the federal government’s carbon pricing legislation plays out in the media, ANU climate scientists reported receiving menacing emails and phone messages, including death threats, about their research.

August 2011 The Australian Data Archive is launched to expand the work of the Australian Social Data Archive, which was established at ANU more than 30 years previously.

2012 ANU Professor Bill Gammage wins the Victorian Prize for Literature, the ACT Book of the Year Award, and the Prime Minister's Literary Prize for Australian History for his book, The Biggest Estate on Earth How Aborigines Made Australia.

April 2012 The new Crawford School of Public Policy is announced.

May 2012 Plans for a restructuring of the School of Music are announced, including staff cuts of 13 full-time-equivalent positions.

2013 ANU launches its socially responsible investment policy.

2013 The most powerful computer in Australia, 'Raijin', is launched at ANU with the opening of the high-performance computing centre, the National Computational Infrastructure.

2013 Wolfgang Buttress' UNA sculpture is installed in the new ANU Science Precinct. The highly polished four-metre diameter stainless steel sphere features 9,000 laser and hand-cut holes, which represent the stars visible from the Southern Hemisphere.

February 2013 Financial entrepreneur and ANU graduate Graham Tuckwell donated $50 million to fund an undergraduate scholarship program at ANU, then the largest private donation to a university in Australian history.

August 2014 The Minister for Education and Training commissions Emeritus Professor Sally Walker to review the Australian National University Act 1991 and the governance arrangements contained within it.

2014 The ANU welcomes the first cohort of Tuckwell and Centenary Scholars to campus.

2014 The ANU receives $28 million to establish the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language.

2014 The ANU confers an honorary doctorate on Nobel Peace Laureate and future State Counsellor of Myanmar, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.

2014 ANU and the National University of Malaysia sign a new Memorandum of Understanding that will increase educational links and collaboration between the two institutions.

October 2014 The University Council agrees to divest from seven companies, in line with its Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) Policy. This represents a partial divestment of around 5.1 per cent of the University's Australian equity holdings and approximately 1 per cent of its total investment holdings.

2015 ANU agrees to return the remains of Mungo Man to the Indigenous elders of the Willandra Lakes area of Western New South Wales.

2015 The Australian Centre on China in the World launches ‘The China Story’ website. The Crawford School launches the Policy Forum website.

2015 ANU begins a new electronic records management system.

February 2015 ANU names the School of International, Political and Strategic Studies after one of Australia's first female diplomats, Dr Coral Bell. Minister for Foreign Affairs Julie Bishop visited the ANU campus to launch the Coral Bell School of Asia-Pacific Affairs.

21 August 2015 ANU breaks the world record for the most people stargazing in one place at the same time when more than 1,800 people gathered on Fellows Oval to look up at the night sky. ANU also broke the record for the most people stargazing at multiple venues, with almost 8,000 participants across 37 locations in Australia.

October 2015 Professor Graham Farquhar is awarded the Prime Minister's Prize for Science for his work on water-efficient crops and climate change research.

2016 ANU begins working from its fourth Environmental Management Plan 2016–2020, with its targets that include reducing energy use per person by 20 per cent (on 2014 levels) by 2020 and energy carbon emissions by 30 per cent. ANU Carshare is also launched in 2016.

2016 Professor Andrew Podger is commissioned to undertake a major review of the ANU School of Music.

January 2016 Professor Brian Schmidt is appointed the 12th Vice-Chancellor of ANU.

February 2016 The confirmed observation of gravitational waves is announced. ANU scientists played a key role in the global scientific collaboration that proved the existence of gravitational waves.

18 February 2016 The first edition of Bossy, the Women's Department magazine, is launched, collecting feminist writing and artwork from students campuswide.

April 2016 The first of the town hall meetings to discuss the new vision for ANU are held.

18 April 2016 The ANU releases details of its changes to the School of Culture, History and Languages. Staff and students are to choose a new name for the School and the academic departments are to be reorganised. Vice-Chancellor Brian Schmidt writes that 'fewer than 15 academic positions will be affected by the changes.'

24 April 2016Mongolian President His Excellency Tsakhigiin Elbegdorj gives ANU a ger (a Mongolian yurt), which will be set up on special occasions. Mr Damba Gankhuyag, State Secretary of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Mongolia, presents the ger on the President's behalf to support the ANU College of Asian and the Pacific Mongolia Institute, founded in 2013 to promote Mongolian studies.

June 2016 Federal Minister for Defence, Marise Payne, and Senator for the ACT, Zed Seselja, announces a $12 million investment from the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) in a facility that will help grow Australia's cyber-security workforce. The facility is part of the new $45 million building of the ANU Research School of Computer Science and Mathematical Sciences Institute.

August 2016 ANU announces the establishment of an Indigenous Postdoctoral Fellowships Program to attract Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander doctoral graduates across all academic disciplines.

August 2016 Vice-Chancellor Brian Schmidt commits to achieving a 50/50 gender balance in leadership roles within five years.

August 2016 ANU signs a 30-year concession agreement with investment management firm H.R.L. Morrison and Co over nine student residencies, allowing ANU to retain ownership over the residencies.

September 2016 Human Rights Commissioner Professor Gillian Triggs gives a talk at ANU on a range of issues, including the distressing increase of reports of sexual assault and harassment occurring within Australian universities.

October 2016 ANU announces a $12.5 million investment in strategic funds to ensure the future of the ANU School of Music.

2017 The Union Court redevelopment commences.

2017 The National Australia Day Council commissions the ANU School of Art to design and produce the 2018 Australian of the Year Award trophies. The ANU School of Music is also commissioned to compose the awards' fanfare and theme music.

March 2017 ANU opens its China Liaison Office to 'better manage and mitigate risk, build brand profile, and manage relationships with government agencies and partner institutions.'

May 2017The Australian National University discovers that it was the victim of a major cyberattack in late 2018, with the theft of personal information dating back 19 years.

May 2017 The Vice-Chancellor's Entrepreneurial Academic Scheme is launched to attract leaders who can bring industry, business or equivalent external experience to ANU and reward ANU researchers who engage with industry. The Entrepreneurial Fellowship Programme will attract a number of high-profile leaders to ANU — the first being Professor Genevieve Bell, who was previously Vice-President of Intel.

16 June 2017Professor Graham Farquhar wins the Kyoto Prize, in the Biological Sciences category, for his life's work in plant biophysics and photosynthesis.

July 2017 Applications open for ANU's first Grand Challenges Scheme. The first Grand Challenge is awarded to the research project, Your Health in Your Hands Future Personalised Technologies for a Sustainable and Effective Healthcare. Five Grand Challenges are to be announced by 2021.

11 July 2017 ANU launches an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Trail. The trail was developed in close collaboration with members from all four of the local Representative Aboriginal Organisations Ngunnawal, Ngunawal, Ngambri and Ngarigu groups. The trail starts near the former Union Court and follows Sullivans Creek downstream, towards Lake Burley Griffin.

1 August 2017The results of a nationwide survey to assess the extent of sexual assault and sexual harassment of university students is released. The report, titled, Change the Course National Report on Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment at Australian Universities, reveals widespread harassment and sexual assault on Australian campuses. Following the report's release, a 'Sit In and Speak Out' is coordinated by ANUSA, PARSA, the Women's department and the Queer Department.

September 2017 ANU announces the creation of a new institute for cross-disciplinary research into Artificial Intelligence, data and technology, and their relationships with humanity the Institute for Autonomy, Agency and Assurance, or the 3A Institute, co-founded with the CSIRO's Data61.

2018 ANU opens its South East Asia Liaison Office in Singapore.

2018 The ANU Australian Studies Institute is formally launched.

31 January 2018 Indigenous elders present Vice-Chancellor Brian Schmidt with the name "Kambri" for the new precinct to be developed at the heart of campus, formally known as "Union Court".

February 2018 ANU Campus is flooded, including the lower level of the Chifley Library. Over 100,000 monographs are destroyed.

March 2018 Under guidance from the Respectful Relationships Steering Committee, the ANU's Discipline Rule is updated to include definitions of sexual assault and sexual harassment.

May 2018 The ANU announces a new admissions model that takes students' overall achievements and character into consideration, including community engagement and leadership, sport or volunteering activities, part-time work and carers' responsibilities.

1 June 2018 The ANU announces that it is withdrawing from negotiations to create a degree program with the Ramsay Centre for Western Civilisation, arguing that 'the Centre's continued demands for control over the program were inconsistent with the University's academic autonomy’.

July 2018 ANU alumnus Craig Edwards gives the University the largest collection of Indigenous artwork an Australian university has ever received. The collection, valued at over $9 million, includes works by many influential Indigenous artists.

31 August 2018 The ANU LGBTQI Alumni Network is launched.

February 2019 The new Kambri precinct is opened. During the opening, the newest piece of ANU's art collection is unveiled Sidney Nolan's 20 metre-long Eureka Stockade.

29 March 2019 The ANU Muslim Students' Association hold a Christchurch Funeral Prayer after a terrorist attack on two Christchurch mosques.

30 March 2019 The ANU Women's Alumni Network is launched.

August 2019 The Humanising Machine Intelligence (HMI) project is launched. As a 2018 Grand Challenges project finalist, the team receives $1.5 million in funding per year for the next three years.

1 August 2019 The Hon Julie Bishop is announced as ANU's new Chancellor. She is to take on the role from 1 January 2020.

October 2019 ANU receives a $34.9 million ARC grant to establish the Centre of Excellence for Transformative Meta-Optical Systems.

November 2019 The ANU returns the Elcho Island blood samples to the Galiwin'ku community. The samples were collected from the Galiwin'ku people in the mid-twentieth century.

10 December 2019 The ANU holds its first 'Grand Graduation' on University Avenue.

2020 The ANU invites community consultation on its draft Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) 2020–2021. This will be ANU's third RAP to guide the University's relationship with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

2020 Peter Yu, a Yawuru man from Broome, is appointed to the inaugural ANU Executive position of Vice-President (First Nations).

20 January 2020 The ANU campus, along with much of the Canberra CBD, is impacted by a severe hail storm. At least 80 buildings on campus and countless vehicles are damaged.

February 2020 As the Australian Government suspends travel from mainland China to Australia for everyone but Australian citizens, residents and their families, the ANU responds by assuring students unable to travel to campus that they will be supported to continue their studies and with the message that will be reiterated throughout the year 'viruses don't discriminate and neither do we.'

February 2020 Brain Schmidt is reappointed Vice-Chancellor for another five-year term.

7 February 2020 The Kambri Scholarships are established to ensure that any Indigenous student who is admitted to ANU has everything they need to succeed, from suitable accommodation, financial support for return trips home, a stipend, and additional financial and pastoral support. The ANU commits to providing $25 million in matching funds in order to create a $50 million endowment that will fund the Scholarships in perpetuity. The Scholarships are co-created with the ANU Tjabal Indigenous Higher Education Centre and Indigenous Elders in the ANU community.

13 February 2020 The ANU Council passes a resolution that calls for urgent action to address the growing problem of climate change. The Climate Change Resolution acknowledges the unprecedented and extreme weather events of the 2019-2020 summer, 'including bushfires, smoke and a hailstorm, that have threatened the health and lives of staff, students and our communities, and impacted our environment, while also affecting the operation of the University'.

16 March 2020 The University recalls all students and staff overseas on university travel due to the escalating threat of COVID-19.

26 March 2020 All ANU campuses shift to remote work and study to control the spread of COVID-19.

May 2020 Vice-Chancellor Brian Schmidt hosts 'the largest staff meeting in the history of ANU' to discuss the University's financial position in the midst of COVID-19 disruption.

June 2020 The COVID-19 epidemic takes an enormous toll on the ANU's finances during 2020, as international student numbers are drastically reduced. As a result, the University is forced to consider ways of cutting its costs. Staff vote narrowly in favour of a pay rise deferral in the interests of saving jobs at the University.

June 2020 ANU and the University of Canberra launch a joint pilot program to bring a small group of international students back to Canberra for semester two on a chartered flight. Ultimately, however, the pilot is delayed as COVID-19 outbreaks escalate in Victoria.

July 2020 A hybrid model of teaching is introduced for semester two classes that enable remote learning and the simultaneous return to campus for some students.

August 2020 With COVID-19 precautions and restrictions continuing, ANU holds its first Virtual Open Week (VOW).

1 August 2021 The ANU celebrates its 75^th anniversary.