The Hedley Bull Centre at The Australian National University was officially opened on 6 August 2008. Designed by award-winning Melbourne-based firm Lyons Architects, the Centre is located on the corner of Liversidge Street and Garran Road in the nation’s capital, Canberra.

Adhering to the architectural firm’s guiding philosophy ‘form follows ideas’, the Hedley Bull Centre is designed to enable and encourage dialogue between the staff and students of the various academic units who inhabit its corridors—interacting as parts of a whole for the common goals of rigorous academic scholarship and teaching excellence.

Focused on these goals, the Asia-Pacific College of Diplomacy, the Department of International Relations, the Department of Political and Social Change, and the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre moved into the Centre over one month prior to its official opening. This means that more than 120 individuals (including academic staff, visiting fellows, doctoral students and academic unit support staff) will work in the Centre. Each unit also has its own large library/reading room with windows that look out into a central atrium space, whilst a café will adjoin the Centre.

Large water retention tanks, a grey water system, double-glazing, high mass construction, and a ‘mixed mode’ climate control system have also been incorporated in the design and installed to ensure an environmentally sustainable Centre.

A variety of graduate programs within the academic units cater for numerous masters and graduate diploma students. For these students, and also for conferences and special events, the Hedley Bull Centre has modern, well-equipped facilities (including a seminar room, two lecture theatres and a computer lab).

Remembering Hedley describes Hedley Bull’s life and work, including the time he spent at The Australian National University. The current Hedley Bull Fellow within the Centre is Mr Greg Fry in the Department of International Relations, and the Graduate Studies in International Affairs program offers up to four Hedley Bull Scholarships each year for full-time study in the Master of Arts (International Relations) program.

Many more individuals researching or teaching in the fields of diplomacy, international relations, political and social change, and strategy and defence will walk the Centre’s corridors throughout the coming years.

And, finally, why Hedley Bull? The building serves as a fitting legacy to the extraordinary life and all-encompassing work of one of most formidable talents in the fields of international relations and strategic studies. As Bruce Miller notes in his chapter, ‘we owe him so much’. The Australian National University ‘is right to commemorate him with the opening of the Hedley Bull Centre’.

Appendix by Meredith Thatcher,

Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, July 2008