The ANU Cyber Institute will become a virtual institute and its chief executive will depart the role as the university seeks to make savings.
The decision comes as some ANU staff members have had their university purchase card limits drastically reduced.
Vice-chancellor Brian Schmidt said in an email to staff that the Cyber Institute would become the first post-COVID virtual institute and professor Lesley Seebeck would be stepping aside from her position as chief executive officer from October 30.
"Professor Seebeck has acknowledged the difficult circumstances facing the University at present: developing and delivering leading-edge and hands-on education programs is challenging in such a socially and financially constrained environment," professor Schmidt said.
The new virtual format will mean there is no physical presence on campus but it will comprise of a group of people with cyber expertise and cyber security work across the campus.
An ANU spokesperson said the university was working with current staff in the Cyber Institute to determine what roles they may take in the new virtual institute or how they may be redeployed across the campus.
"A budget for the virtual institute is still to be determined and will be based on the university's broader financial considerations as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic and related economic impact," the spokesperson said.
It is unknown how many employees will be affected by the changes.
Professor Seebeck said the main achievement of her two years at the institute was creating the university's first fully micro-credentialled graduate diploma and masters degrees.
"There's a lot to be done. The university has had its own cybersecurity experience so it will continue to be focused on as ongoing issue," she said.
Professor Seebeck will maintain her connection to the university as an honorary professor in the practice of cybersecurity. Upon leaving the chief executive role she will focus on writing projects.
Budget constraints are beginning to affect other parts of university operations, including some staff members having their purchase card limits reduced to $1 from Friday.
"Given the financial challenges currently faced by the university, over the last few months we have been systematically reviewing our spending, including the use of purchase cards, and have adjusted their use accordingly," a university spokesperson said.
"Where the use of purchase cards is not essential to our core operations, credit limits have been reduced."
Professor Schmidt said in a recent financial update that the university was on track to achieve a $75 million savings target for operational expenditure.
However, reduced international student numbers may put pressure on $77.7 million of revenue, leading to additional savings targets.
