One of Australia's most prominent political journalists and public commentators, Mark Kenny, will take up a new position of Senior Fellow, in the Australian Studies Institute at ANU early in the New Year.

Until now, the National Affairs Editor for The Age, and The Sydney Morning Herald, Kenny was previously Fairfax's chief political correspondent, having moved from News Corp in 2012 where he was national political editor for The Advertiser.

With a career spanning radio and television (ABC) and print reporting, Kenny brings with him a wealth of frontline experience in political journalism, and a deep understanding of the workings of parliamentary politics and political parties at the national level. A long-time director of the National Press Club, he has travelled extensively with prime ministers and other ministers attending all the major councils of the world.

Director of the Australian Studies Institute, Paul Pickering, said it was a significant step forward for the still relatively new AuSI to attract a figure of Kenny's seniority, depth of political knowledge, and established public recognition.

"In addition to his research interests in areas such as political populism and the study of comparable political systems, Mark Kenny will add to the Institute's public profile and to its considerable intellectual heft, providing the ANU community with invaluable first-hand perspectives of how politics, policy, and government operate in Australia," Professor Pickering said.

"Mr Kenny has charted the rise and fall of all the key figures from the Howard era through to the present day, providing readers with not just what is happening, by why, and whether changes underway were likely to deliver what proponents claimed," Professor Pickering said. He said in this new role Kenny would remain close to the political machinations in Canberra and would continue to write extensively about national affairs in a variety of publications.

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