Professor Hayne has been the Vice-Chancellor of Curtin University since April 2021, prior to this she was the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Otago, in New Zealand, since 2011. She was the Chair of the Australian Technology Network of Universities from April 2023 to April 2025, and appointed to the Universities Australia Board in May 2025.

Professor Hayne received a BA from Colorado College, a Master of Science and PhD in Behavioural Neuroscience from Rutgers University, and spent three years as a post-doctoral fellow at Princeton before joining the University of Otago in 1992. She conducts research in the areas of memory development and adolescent risk taking. In 2022 she was made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit (CNZM), in recognition of her services to health and wellbeing.