The Warren Centre

The Warren Centre of Advanced Engineering was established to mark the centenary of Engineering Education at the University of Sydney in 1983. [Senate resolution 80/264 of 7 Oct 1980]

Engineering at the University was 100 years old at the end of the 1982 academic year and the first lecture was presented by WH Warren in early 1883. The Engineering Centenary Committee, established by the faculty, was responsible for fundraising and planning and designing the purpose, aims, and early projects for the Centre. The constitution was approved by Senate on 10 December 1980 [Senate resolution 80/315]. The objects of the Centre included ...to assist the Senate and the Vice-Chancellor on matters associated with Advanced Engineering by co-operating with industry to promote excellence and innovation in all fields of engineering in Australia... The Centre was to be located within the premises of the Faculty which was to provide, free of charge to the Centre, such accommodation and facilities as the Vice-Chancellor on the advice of the Board was to determine...The entire control, management and conduct of the business and affairs of the Centre was vested in a Board which was appointed by the Senate, at its discretion, on the nomination of the Vice-Chancellor.

The Board of Directors held its first meeting on 7 April 1982. The last meeting (the 162th) of the Board of Directors was held on 1 August 2008 before the Centre became became a company Limited, the Warren Centre for Advanced Engineering Limited (WCL later TWCL or TWC Ltd). [Senate approval 4 February 2007, Vice-Chancellor's Report 3.3]

The internal Warren Centre was closed on 3 May 2016 while the Company continued to operate. The last Board meeting of the Warren Centre for Advanced Engineering Ltd took place on 18 February 2020. Subsequent to the Board meeting, the company ceased to operate and was deregistered on 4/11/2020. The closure of TWC Ltd was part of the transition of the Warren Centre to a Centre within the University.

The Warren Centre reverted to a centre within the Faculty of Engineering equivalent to its position prior to incorporation in 2019 on 5 December 2019. It continues to aim to promote excellence and innovation in engineering and to promote collaboration between the Faculty, industry and government. Its objectives included to:

- provide independent comment and advice to government and industry, on engineering and technology issues;

- initiate, undertake and promulgate the outcomes of projects funded by industry and government, emphasising significant areas of interest to Faculty researchers;

- organise functions including seminars, courses and lectures to facilitate improvements in engineering practice and to transmit knowledge among researchers, industry and government;

- create and sustain common interest networks in innovative engineering and technologies, involving industry and government leaders, encouraging interchange with the University; and

- add to the reputation and standing of the Faculty as well as the Centre through the quality and significance of the Centre's work and its dissemination in the public arena. [https://www.sydney.edu.au/engineering/industry-and-community/the-warren-centre.html accessed 10/02/2021]