Genevieve Bell facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Genevieve Bell
AO FTSE FAHA FASSA
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Genevieve Bell in 2017
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| 13th Vice-Chancellor of the Australian National University | |
| Assumed office 1 January 2024 |
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| Chancellor | Julie Bishop |
| Preceded by | Brian Schmidt |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Australia |
| Alma mater | Bryn Mawr College Stanford University |
| Occupation | Cultural Anthropologist Distinguished Professor |
| Scientific career | |
| Institutions | |
| Thesis | Telling stories out of school: Remembering the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, 1879-1918 (1998) |
| Doctoral advisors | Arthur Wolf Hill Gates |
Genevieve Bell is a leading Australian expert in how people use technology. She is a cultural anthropologist, which means she studies human societies and cultures. She is currently the Vice-Chancellor of the Australian National University (ANU). She is well-known for her work connecting cultural studies with new technology. She also helped create the field of "user experience," which focuses on making technology easy and enjoyable for people to use.
Contents
About Genevieve Bell
Genevieve Bell is a distinguished professor at the ANU. She was the first director of the Autonomy, Agency and Assurance Innovation Institute (3Ai). This institute was started by the ANU and CSIRO’s Data61. From 2021 to 2023, she also led the new ANU School of Cybernetics. She holds the university's Florence Violet McKenzie Chair. She is also the first SRI International Engelbart Distinguished Fellow. She has written many articles and holds 13 patents for her inventions.
Her Early Life and Studies
Genevieve Bell is the daughter of famous Australian anthropologist Diane Bell. Genevieve was born in Sydney. As a child, she lived in Melbourne, Canberra, and with several Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory.
In 1990, she earned two degrees in anthropology from Bryn Mawr College. Later, she studied at Stanford University. She received her master's degree and PhD in anthropology from Stanford in 1998. Her PhD research looked at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School.
Her Career Journey
From 1996 to 1998, Genevieve Bell taught anthropology at Stanford University. She also taught about Native American Studies.
Working at Intel
In 1998, Bell joined Intel Corporation, a big technology company. She helped them start their social-science research team. She worked as a cultural anthropologist, studying how different cultures around the world used technology. Her work helped Intel focus more on what users needed and how they experienced technology. She is known for making "user experience" a key part of Intel's work.
In 2005, Bell started Intel's first User Experience Group. In 2008, Intel named her an Intel Fellow, which is their highest technical rank. She returned to advanced research in 2010. There, she directed Intel's new User Experience Research group. This team explored big data, smart transportation, and new image technology. In 2014, she became an Intel vice president. She was made a senior fellow in 2016.
Awards and Recognition
Genevieve Bell has received many honours outside of Intel. In 2010, AlwaysOn named her one of the Top 25 Women in Technology to Watch. Fast Company also listed her as one of the 100 Most Creative People in Business. In 2012, she joined the Women in Technology International Hall of Fame. In 2013, she was named Anita Borg’s Women of Vision in Leadership. Elle Magazine included her in their first list of influential women in technology in 2014. She was also featured in an exhibit at London's Design Museum.
From 2008 to 2010, Bell was a Thinker in Residence for South Australia. She helped guide government policy on a new national broadband internet plan. She studied how people used broadband and what stopped them from using it.
Back in Australia
After 18 years at Intel, Bell returned to Australia in 2017. She became a distinguished professor at the ANU College of Engineering, Computing and Cybernetics. She was also the first person to hold the Florence Violet McKenzie Chair at the ANU. This chair is named after Australia's first female electrical engineer.
In 2017, the ANU announced a big plan to grow its engineering and computer science programs. Bell led this expansion as the director of the new 3A Institute (3Ai). This institute brings together experts from many fields. They work on complex problems related to artificial intelligence (AI), data, and technology. They also look at how these technologies affect people.
Since returning to Australia, Bell's knowledge of AI has been recognized by government and industry. She received the Advance Global Australian Award in 2016. In 2018, she became a fellow of the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering (ATSE). She also joined the National Science and Technology Advisory Council. She helped write reports on topics like the COVIDSafe app and Generative AI.
In January 2019, Bell joined the board of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia.
In 2020, Bell was named the first Engelbart Distinguished Fellow by SRI International. This fellowship honours people who change how we use technology. She was also appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia. This award recognized her great service to education and anthropology. That same year, she became an Honorary Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities.
In 2021, Bell started the new School of Cybernetics at the ANU. She was its first Director. This school uses cybernetics (the study of control and communication in systems) to create safe and responsible futures. It considers people, the environment, and technology.
Leading the ANU
On September 26, 2023, Genevieve Bell was announced as the 13th Vice-Chancellor and President of the Australian National University. She started this important role on January 1, 2024.
Important Talks and Books
Genevieve Bell is a well-known speaker on new and old technologies, cybernetics, and artificial intelligence. She has given many TED and TEDx talks. These include "6 Big Ethical Questions About the Future of AI" and "The Value of Boredom."
In 2017, Bell gave the ABC's 2017 Boyer Lectures. These lectures explored what it means to be human and Australian in a digital world. The Boyer Lectures are given each year by important Australians. They encourage national conversations on social and cultural issues.
In 2021, Bell gave the IPAA's Garran Oration. This is a very important speech for the Australian public sector. Bell's Oration highlighted how cybernetics can help us imagine and build the future.
In 2023, Bell gave the first Ann Moyal Lecture at the National Library of Australia. This lecture features distinguished speakers on modern topics. Bell's lecture explored Australia's Australian Overland Telegraph Line through a cybernetic view.
Bell has also written several articles and books. Her first book, Divining a Digital Future: Mess and Mythology in Ubiquitous Computing, was written with Paul Dourish. It explores how people use computers everywhere. It was published in 2011.
An earlier essay by Bell and Dourish, "Resistance is Futile': Reading Science Fiction Alongside Ubiquitous Computing," has inspired the field of design fiction.
Bell also wrote a chapter called “The Secret Life of Big Data” in the 2015 book Data: Now Bigger and Better!.
In 2021, Bell wrote “Touching the Future” for Griffith Review 71: Remaking the Balance. This piece builds on her Boyer Lectures and introduces cybernetics to a wider audience. She also published “Talking to AI: An anthropological encounter with artificial intelligence” in The SAGE Handbook of Cultural Anthropology. Additionally, she led a report called “Custodians and Midwives: The Library of the Future.” This report looked at how libraries can use AI in the future.
In 2022, she wrote “The metaverse is a new word for an old idea” for the MIT Technology Review. In this article, she discusses the history of the metaverse and how it can help build today's technologies.
Awards and Honours
Genevieve Bell has received many awards and fellowships for her work, including:
- 2024: Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia
- 2024: Inaugural Margaret Mead Prize in cybernetics
- 2021, 2023: The Australian Top 100 Innovator
- 2021: Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities (FAHA)
- 2020: Inaugural SRI International Engelbart Distinguished Fellow
- 2020: Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering (FTSE)
- 2020: Officer of the Order of Australia (AO)
- 2017: Inaugural Florence Violet McKenzie Chair
- 2016: Overall Winner and Innovation Awardee of the Advance Global Australian Awards
- 2014: Elle Magazine Influential Woman in Tech
- 2013: Anita Borg Foundation Woman of Vision
- 2013: Fast Company 25 Smartest Women on Twitter
- 2012: Women in Technology Hall of Fame Inductee
- 2010: Fast Company Influential Woman in Technology
- 2009: Fast Company 100 Most Creative People in Business
