In October 2019 the Grimwade Centre hosted a forum run by Con/servare, an international network for researchers and practitioners in the fields of conservation, material culture and attribution studies, co-founded in 2018 by Grimwade PhD candidates Ainslee Meredith, Julianne Bell and Eliza O’Donnell. In this blog post, Eliza O’Donnell introduces the Con/servare network, and reports on its 2019 forum. Con/servare …

For her final-year capstone project, History major Claire Hannon decided to investigate the origins of a longstanding student institution: the University of Melbourne Food Co-op, established in 1976. What had driven the Food Co-op’s founders? And how might the history of the Food Co-op help to inspire new forms of student activism today? Claire’s project took her into the history …

After completing a PhD in History in 2019, Dr Shane Tas went on to become Senior Policy Advisor, Masculinities at Our Watch. In this capacity he acted as project lead and author of a major report, Men in Focus: Unpacking Masculinities and Engaging Men in the Prevention of Violence Against Women, launched in November 2019. He spoke with current History …

It would be easy to believe, if you pay attention to the media, that Australian children are in poor shape. Kids, we are told, have too much screen time, too little exercise, too many scheduled activities and not enough risk and freedom. Earnest commentators constantly critique 'helicopter parenting', 'tiger mothers', 'intensive mothering' and 'bubble-wrapped children'. There is certainly some basis to these …

The 1927 Tariff Board inquiry into the import duty on gramophone records coming into Australia was about more than industry protection. In fact the piano roll industry, which might be expected to be the one most concerned about the impact of imported records, wasn’t particularly worried. But others were. Henry Reese, SHAPS PhD graduate, explores in this article republished from The …

Upon finishing her Honours at Melbourne, Zoë Laidlaw went on to complete her postgraduate degree at Oxford. After 20 years in the United Kingdom, she returned to the University of Melbourne in September 2018. PhD candidate Jonathan Peter spoke to Zoë recently about her experiences as an academic, her research interests, as well as current and future projects. You finished your …

Leonardo da Vinci’s portrait of Cecilia Gallerani, known as the Lady with an Ermine, is one of Poland’s national treasures, but the painting has had an extraordinary history. Dr Darius von Güttner, Principal Fellow (Honorary) in SHAPS, tells us more in an article republished from University of Melbourne's Pursuit. Over a decade ago the Czartoryski Museum in Kraków closed its doors …

In 2019, Thérèse and Ron Ridley established a scholarship to enable a PhD student in the Classics and Archaeology program at the University of Melbourne to travel to the British School at Rome. Larissa Tittl spoke with Ron Ridley, Professor Emeritus in the School of Historical and Philosophical Studies, about the new scholarship and the story behind this generous endowment. …

In 2019, Senior Lecturer in Philosophy Dan Halliday teamed up with Snodger Media and the ABC to make a documentary series on practical ethics. The result was a series called Ethics Matters, which was integrated into high school curricula in Victoria and New South Wales. He speaks here with Carley Tonoli about his experience in bringing philosophy into the TV …

Archaeology in the rugged landscape of Georgia reveals a medieval world where caves and underground shelters provided refuge from raiders, allowing a threatened civilisation to flourish. Classics & Archaeology PhD Candidate Abby Robinson, along with Giorgi Khaburzania, Field archaeologist, National Agency for Cultural Heritage Preservation, Georgia, tells us more about the history of these ancient remains. Southwest Georgia, close to the borders …

Sophie Ritson completed her honours degree at the University of Melbourne in 2011, majoring in the History and Philosophy of Science. After finishing her PhD at the University of Sydney, Sophie’s academic work took her to Austria. She is now part of a large interdisciplinary team exploring how scientific knowledge is produced at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN in …

Grimwade Centre student Laura Daenke is currently completing an internship in the Paper and Photo Department at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. Here she talks to Isabella Walker about what she has learnt and observed over the course of her internship, and how her studies at the Grimwade prepared her for this experience. Tell us a little about your conservation background and …

We live in a world of violent challenges to the status quo, from Chile and Iraq to Hong Kong, Catalonia and the Extinction Rebellion. These protests are usually presented in the media simply as expressions of rage at 'the system' and are eminently suitable for TV news coverage, where they flash across our screens in 15-second splashes of colour, smoke …

Sri Lanka’s presidential election on Saturday comes at a critical time for the country. The government has been in turmoil since President Maithripala Sirisena sacked the prime minister last year and replaced him with former strongman Mahinda Rajapaksa, a move that sparked a three-month constitutional crisis. Then came the Easter bombings this year that killed over 250 people, including two Australians. …

After Volkhard Wehner was awarded a PhD in 2017 for his thesis on the history of Victoria’s German-speaking community (1850–1930) he soon realised that after completing that milestone, life does not suddenly end. Rather, it opens up countless new possibilities. After reflecting on the transition from the pressures and intensity of the PhD experience, he discusses one of several of …

The decipherment of Linear B, the earliest form of Greek, was a history changing achievement, but decoding the older Linear A would open a new window on the origins of European culture. In one of our posts on Forum earlier in 2019, we interviewed SHAPS lecturer Brent Davis, who in this article reposted from University of Melbourne's Pursuit, tells us more …

After retiring from a distinguished scientific career, Lynda Campbell developed an interest in the history of her field.

The most significant event in French revolutionary studies ever to be held in Australia took place on 9 and 10 July 2019 at the University of Melbourne. Fourteen distinguished international scholars, along with their Australian counterparts, contributed to a symposium in honour of the great historian of France, Emeritus Professor Peter McPhee AM. Their presence was as much a sign …

Last year, History of Science lecturer Dr Gerhard Wiesenfeldt sailed across the South Atlantic on a tall ship. During the six-week voyage, he explored the use of early navigational instruments including the cross-staff and astrolabe. In the following interview, Gerhard describes this unique experience to Samara Greenwood. Could you give us a brief overview of your recent voyage? What was your …

Known for her bold and bright work, artist Mirka Mora was a trailblazer for women artists in the 1970s, bringing 'feminine techniques' to the forefront of art. Grimwade Centre Honorary Fellow Sabine Cotte discusses Mirka's life, work, and legacy in this article, originally published in the University of Melbourne's Pursuit. Mirka Mora was one of Melbourne’s best loved artists, renowned as …

From 2015, the extraordinary Hansen Gift — the largest ever made to a History program in Australia — has transformed the teaching of History at the University of Melbourne. One strand of the initiatives funded by the Gift is an annual Hansen Trust PhD Scholarship in History. Applications for next year’s round are currently open, and we take this opportunity to …

Last week, politicians and farming lobbyists weighed in on the replication crisis in science and a number of academics, including several from SHAPS, responded in the following article republished from The Conversation. The National Party, Queensland farming lobby group AgForce, and MP Bob Katter have banded together to propose an 'independent science quality assurance agency'. To justify their position, Liberal-National MP George …

In 2017 Xavier Ma became the first postgraduate from the People’s Republic of China to receive a PhD in History from the University of Melbourne. Xavier came to Melbourne in 2013 on a scholarship targeting graduates of Peking University. During his candidature, he distinguished himself by winning a D. Kim Foundation Fellowship to support him in the writing-up stages. Upon graduating, he …

At the Grimwade Centre for Cultural Materials Conservation, Western disciplines like chemistry, physics, art history and archaeology help us to analyse, understand, preserve and restore Australia’s cultural heritage. It’s part of a history of conservation that stretches back centuries; emerging from the Western intellectual tradition of universities, museums, libraries, archives and galleries throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. But when considering a …

Two weeks after submitting her PhD on oral histories about Vietnamese refugee childhood and the digital diaspora, Anh Nguyen was invited to present a public lecture at Melbourne Museum. As a volunteer researcher at the Museum, she worked with curator Moya McFadzean on a collection of crochet works by Man Man, a detainee on Manus Island. In this adapted version …

How do hate speech, slurs, and other speech acts contribute to and perpetuate oppression? What does it mean to be a ‘woman’ in today’s society? How do our gender concepts impact the ways in which we are able to relate to the world and those around us? How should we strike a balance between freedom of speech and suppression of …

An interdisciplinary team of researchers across the School of Biosciences and SHAPS are working together to address one of the most pressing controversies of modern science – scientific replicability. The repliCATS project, based predominantly at the University of Melbourne, is among the first of its kind to be funded by end users of scientific research. Dang Nguyen spoke to Fallon …

A group of organizations, the National Security Archive (NSA), Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), and the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations (SHAFR) have filed a lawsuit aimed at requiring the Trump Administration to record and preserve transcripts of high-level diplomatic meetings. History PhD candidate Nayree Mardirian spoke to SHAFR's President Professor Barbara Keys about this …

Queer history is a relatively new field of historical research that offers loads of untapped sources and stories. In this video, three History Honours students, Meghan Grech, Danielle Scrimshaw and Harriet Steele, talk about their research on Australia’s LGBTQI history from the 1840s to the 1990s. They reflect on: where they find meaning in their work as historians; what they …

Emma Hayles, one of our recent graduates, is now working as an archaeological conservator, looking after items uncovered during the Metro Tunnel Project excavations. After doing an undergraduate degree in Archaeology, Emma Hayles went on to complete a Master of Cultural Materials Conservation in 2017. Since 2018, she has been working on the Metro Tunnel Project as an archaeological conservator. In …

After completing her PhD in History and Social Theory, Nicola Nixon has spent the last fifteen years working in international development, in a range of posts across Europe, Asia and Australia. She's worked for the United Nations Development Programme, Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and a range of international NGOs. Currently, she is Director of Governance at the …

Staff and students from Melbourne University’s archaeology fieldwork intensive subject in Georgia were pleasantly surprised when the Australian Ambassador to Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan, Marc Innes-Brown, and Second Secretary, Andrew Cooper, visited the site during the 2019 excavation season. The Ambassador shared his impressions of the visit with Larissa Tittl. The Ambassador was struck by both the beauty of the …

Archaeology PhD candidate Maddi Harris-Schober is one of a number of SHAPS students and alumni who have taken part in the archaeological digs in Melbourne’s CBD as part of the Metro Tunnel Project. In this interview, she talks about being an archaeologist, and about her experiences working on the state’s biggest ever public transport infrastructure project. As part of the Victorian …

In the midst of her relocation from Canada to commence her appointment as the new Head of the School of Historical and Philosophical Studies (SHAPS), Professor Margaret Cameron took some time out to chat to SHAPS Forum’s Carley Tonoli about her love of philosophy, her academic career, and her excitement about heading up the SHAPS team. What sparked your love of …

Trains and railroads hold a curious appeal for many of us, and they make compelling subjects for historical research. In 2018, History major Tim Lilley chose to produce his third-year capstone research project on the history of the Melbourne-Geelong railway. We showcase his outstanding project here, in the first of a series of posts spotlighting some of the best work …

What happens when an artwork is produced using technologies that later become obsolete? What special skills are needed by conservators working with old media? Tate conservator Patricia Falcão recently delivered a masterclass on this subject for Master of Cultural Materials Conservation students at the Grimwade Centre. Ashley Hayes, one of the postgraduate students who organised the masterclass, reports and reflects …

From second semester 2019, undergraduates at the University of Melbourne will be able to study Soviet history, with the launch of the second-year subject 'Red Empire: The Soviet Union and After'. This brand-new subject is part of the History program's curriculum revamp, led by Hansen Chair Professor Mark Edele. It also marks a revitalisation of Russian studies at the University …

On the back of her new book, Not in Their Name: Are Citizens Culpable for Their States' Actions?, SHAPS Senior Lecturer in Political Philosophy, Dr Holly Lawford-Smith sat down for Q&A with Forum’s Carley Tonoli. What sparked your initial interest in philosophy? My initial interest in philosophy came during my undergrad. I took a course just out of curiosity; I was actually …

Graduate students from the Grimwade Centre for Cultural Materials Conservation have been helping the Bathurst Regional Art Gallery (BRAG) to do the difficult but crucial work involved in reorganising their collection.

In 1944, the Bretton Woods conference started the task of rebuilding a multilateral world economy that had been fractured by the Great Depression and war - and the multilateral institutions that emerged are now challenged by President Donald Trump.

A degree in history is ideal training for a career in the media. ABC journalist Bindi Bryce spoke to Sofie Onorato about how her History major at the University of Melbourne.

PhD candidate Dang Nguyen has been awarded a prestigious Fox International Fellowship, which will see her spend the 2019-2020 academic year at Yale University Graduate School. She spoke with Nicole Davis about her work.

In October 2018 the inimitable Associate Professor Frederik Vervaet presented a riveting public lecture entitled "'Monarch by Universal Consent’: Revisiting Augustus' Alternative Truth", as part of the 2018 Truth SHAPS Public Lecture series

In 2018 Ross Barham completed his Philosophy PhD, investigating the relationship between human language and the way we understand the concept of objectivity. He chatted to Carley Tonoli about how it feels to be on the other side of the finish line.

Pineapples as a status symbol in early modern Europe and nineteenth-century Sydney restaurants were the topics of papers presented by the two gastronomes from SHAPS at the 22nd Symposium of Australian Gastronomy in November 2018 in western Sydney.

Advances in robotics raise all kinds of questions about how humans will relate to this new technology... In her recent PhD, Dr Tessa Leach explored an especially controversial aspect of this topic: the human-like sex robots that may soon be among us.

Our annual newsletter celebrates the achievements of our students, past and present, and shares news about the research, teaching and other activities happening in the History program.

SHAPS Classics & Archaeology lecturer Dr Brent Davis was recently awarded the prestigious Michael Ventris Award for Mycenaean Studies. He spoke with Nicole Davis about his research.

In 2018 Professor Antonia Finnane retired after 33 years working for the History program at the University of Melbourne. We present here excerpts from the speeches and tributes delivered at Antonia's farewell in November 2018.

Professor Tim Parkin’s reflections on his first year as Tatoulis Chair in Classics The reason the Greeks and Romans remain fascinating and significant to us in the modern world is because their influence is omnipresent and also because in studying them we constantly learn more about ourselves. In January 2018, Professor Tim Parkin arrived in Melbourne to take up a new position …

In October 2019 the Grimwade Centre hosted a forum run by Con/servare, an international network for researchers and practitioners in the fields of conservation, material culture and attribution studies, co-founded in 2018 by Grimwade PhD candidates Ainslee Meredith, Julianne Bell and Eliza O’Donnell. In this blog post, Eliza O’Donnell introduces the Con/servare network, and reports on its 2019 forum. Con/servare …

After completing a PhD in History in 2019, Dr Shane Tas went on to become Senior Policy Advisor, Masculinities at Our Watch. In this capacity he acted as project lead and author of a major report, Men in Focus: Unpacking Masculinities and Engaging Men in the Prevention of Violence Against Women, launched in November 2019. He spoke with current History …

The 1927 Tariff Board inquiry into the import duty on gramophone records coming into Australia was about more than industry protection. In fact the piano roll industry, which might be expected to be the one most concerned about the impact of imported records, wasn’t particularly worried. But others were. Henry Reese, SHAPS PhD graduate, explores in this article republished from The …

Upon finishing her Honours at Melbourne, Zoë Laidlaw went on to complete her postgraduate degree at Oxford. After 20 years in the United Kingdom, she returned to the University of Melbourne in September 2018. PhD candidate Jonathan Peter spoke to Zoë recently about her experiences as an academic, her research interests, as well as current and future projects. You finished your …

Leonardo da Vinci’s portrait of Cecilia Gallerani, known as the Lady with an Ermine, is one of Poland’s national treasures, but the painting has had an extraordinary history. Dr Darius von Güttner, Principal Fellow (Honorary) in SHAPS, tells us more in an article republished from University of Melbourne's Pursuit. Over a decade ago the Czartoryski Museum in Kraków closed its doors …

In 2019, Thérèse and Ron Ridley established a scholarship to enable a PhD student in the Classics and Archaeology program at the University of Melbourne to travel to the British School at Rome. Larissa Tittl spoke with Ron Ridley, Professor Emeritus in the School of Historical and Philosophical Studies, about the new scholarship and the story behind this generous endowment. …

In 2019, Senior Lecturer in Philosophy Dan Halliday teamed up with Snodger Media and the ABC to make a documentary series on practical ethics. The result was a series called Ethics Matters, which was integrated into high school curricula in Victoria and New South Wales. He speaks here with Carley Tonoli about his experience in bringing philosophy into the TV …

Archaeology in the rugged landscape of Georgia reveals a medieval world where caves and underground shelters provided refuge from raiders, allowing a threatened civilisation to flourish. Classics & Archaeology PhD Candidate Abby Robinson, along with Giorgi Khaburzania, Field archaeologist, National Agency for Cultural Heritage Preservation, Georgia, tells us more about the history of these ancient remains. Southwest Georgia, close to the borders …

Grimwade Centre student Laura Daenke is currently completing an internship in the Paper and Photo Department at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. Here she talks to Isabella Walker about what she has learnt and observed over the course of her internship, and how her studies at the Grimwade prepared her for this experience. Tell us a little about your conservation background and …

We live in a world of violent challenges to the status quo, from Chile and Iraq to Hong Kong, Catalonia and the Extinction Rebellion. These protests are usually presented in the media simply as expressions of rage at 'the system' and are eminently suitable for TV news coverage, where they flash across our screens in 15-second splashes of colour, smoke …

Sri Lanka’s presidential election on Saturday comes at a critical time for the country. The government has been in turmoil since President Maithripala Sirisena sacked the prime minister last year and replaced him with former strongman Mahinda Rajapaksa, a move that sparked a three-month constitutional crisis. Then came the Easter bombings this year that killed over 250 people, including two Australians. …

After Volkhard Wehner was awarded a PhD in 2017 for his thesis on the history of Victoria’s German-speaking community (1850–1930) he soon realised that after completing that milestone, life does not suddenly end. Rather, it opens up countless new possibilities. After reflecting on the transition from the pressures and intensity of the PhD experience, he discusses one of several of …

After retiring from a distinguished scientific career, Lynda Campbell developed an interest in the history of her field.

The most significant event in French revolutionary studies ever to be held in Australia took place on 9 and 10 July 2019 at the University of Melbourne. Fourteen distinguished international scholars, along with their Australian counterparts, contributed to a symposium in honour of the great historian of France, Emeritus Professor Peter McPhee AM. Their presence was as much a sign …

Last year, History of Science lecturer Dr Gerhard Wiesenfeldt sailed across the South Atlantic on a tall ship. During the six-week voyage, he explored the use of early navigational instruments including the cross-staff and astrolabe. In the following interview, Gerhard describes this unique experience to Samara Greenwood. Could you give us a brief overview of your recent voyage? What was your …

Known for her bold and bright work, artist Mirka Mora was a trailblazer for women artists in the 1970s, bringing 'feminine techniques' to the forefront of art. Grimwade Centre Honorary Fellow Sabine Cotte discusses Mirka's life, work, and legacy in this article, originally published in the University of Melbourne's Pursuit. Mirka Mora was one of Melbourne’s best loved artists, renowned as …

From 2015, the extraordinary Hansen Gift — the largest ever made to a History program in Australia — has transformed the teaching of History at the University of Melbourne. One strand of the initiatives funded by the Gift is an annual Hansen Trust PhD Scholarship in History. Applications for next year’s round are currently open, and we take this opportunity to …

Last week, politicians and farming lobbyists weighed in on the replication crisis in science and a number of academics, including several from SHAPS, responded in the following article republished from The Conversation. The National Party, Queensland farming lobby group AgForce, and MP Bob Katter have banded together to propose an 'independent science quality assurance agency'. To justify their position, Liberal-National MP George …

In 2017 Xavier Ma became the first postgraduate from the People’s Republic of China to receive a PhD in History from the University of Melbourne. Xavier came to Melbourne in 2013 on a scholarship targeting graduates of Peking University. During his candidature, he distinguished himself by winning a D. Kim Foundation Fellowship to support him in the writing-up stages. Upon graduating, he …

At the Grimwade Centre for Cultural Materials Conservation, Western disciplines like chemistry, physics, art history and archaeology help us to analyse, understand, preserve and restore Australia’s cultural heritage. It’s part of a history of conservation that stretches back centuries; emerging from the Western intellectual tradition of universities, museums, libraries, archives and galleries throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. But when considering a …

Two weeks after submitting her PhD on oral histories about Vietnamese refugee childhood and the digital diaspora, Anh Nguyen was invited to present a public lecture at Melbourne Museum. As a volunteer researcher at the Museum, she worked with curator Moya McFadzean on a collection of crochet works by Man Man, a detainee on Manus Island. In this adapted version …

How do hate speech, slurs, and other speech acts contribute to and perpetuate oppression? What does it mean to be a ‘woman’ in today’s society? How do our gender concepts impact the ways in which we are able to relate to the world and those around us? How should we strike a balance between freedom of speech and suppression of …

An interdisciplinary team of researchers across the School of Biosciences and SHAPS are working together to address one of the most pressing controversies of modern science – scientific replicability. The repliCATS project, based predominantly at the University of Melbourne, is among the first of its kind to be funded by end users of scientific research. Dang Nguyen spoke to Fallon …

A group of organizations, the National Security Archive (NSA), Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), and the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations (SHAFR) have filed a lawsuit aimed at requiring the Trump Administration to record and preserve transcripts of high-level diplomatic meetings. History PhD candidate Nayree Mardirian spoke to SHAFR's President Professor Barbara Keys about this …

Emma Hayles, one of our recent graduates, is now working as an archaeological conservator, looking after items uncovered during the Metro Tunnel Project excavations. After doing an undergraduate degree in Archaeology, Emma Hayles went on to complete a Master of Cultural Materials Conservation in 2017. Since 2018, she has been working on the Metro Tunnel Project as an archaeological conservator. In …

After completing her PhD in History and Social Theory, Nicola Nixon has spent the last fifteen years working in international development, in a range of posts across Europe, Asia and Australia. She's worked for the United Nations Development Programme, Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and a range of international NGOs. Currently, she is Director of Governance at the …

Staff and students from Melbourne University’s archaeology fieldwork intensive subject in Georgia were pleasantly surprised when the Australian Ambassador to Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan, Marc Innes-Brown, and Second Secretary, Andrew Cooper, visited the site during the 2019 excavation season. The Ambassador shared his impressions of the visit with Larissa Tittl. The Ambassador was struck by both the beauty of the …

Archaeology PhD candidate Maddi Harris-Schober is one of a number of SHAPS students and alumni who have taken part in the archaeological digs in Melbourne’s CBD as part of the Metro Tunnel Project. In this interview, she talks about being an archaeologist, and about her experiences working on the state’s biggest ever public transport infrastructure project. As part of the Victorian …

In the midst of her relocation from Canada to commence her appointment as the new Head of the School of Historical and Philosophical Studies (SHAPS), Professor Margaret Cameron took some time out to chat to SHAPS Forum’s Carley Tonoli about her love of philosophy, her academic career, and her excitement about heading up the SHAPS team. What sparked your love of …

In October 2018 the inimitable Associate Professor Frederik Vervaet presented a riveting public lecture entitled "'Monarch by Universal Consent’: Revisiting Augustus' Alternative Truth", as part of the 2018 Truth SHAPS Public Lecture series

In 2018 Ross Barham completed his Philosophy PhD, investigating the relationship between human language and the way we understand the concept of objectivity. He chatted to Carley Tonoli about how it feels to be on the other side of the finish line.

Pineapples as a status symbol in early modern Europe and nineteenth-century Sydney restaurants were the topics of papers presented by the two gastronomes from SHAPS at the 22nd Symposium of Australian Gastronomy in November 2018 in western Sydney.

Advances in robotics raise all kinds of questions about how humans will relate to this new technology... In her recent PhD, Dr Tessa Leach explored an especially controversial aspect of this topic: the human-like sex robots that may soon be among us.

In 2018 Professor Antonia Finnane retired after 33 years working for the History program at the University of Melbourne. We present here excerpts from the speeches and tributes delivered at Antonia's farewell in November 2018.

Professor Tim Parkin’s reflections on his first year as Tatoulis Chair in Classics The reason the Greeks and Romans remain fascinating and significant to us in the modern world is because their influence is omnipresent and also because in studying them we constantly learn more about ourselves. In January 2018, Professor Tim Parkin arrived in Melbourne to take up a new position …

Free-threshing wheat, a small piece of inscribed banded agate, the myth of Jason and Medea... are all elements in the stories told by presenters at a recent Classics and Archaeology symposium devoted to the legacy of the late Emeritus Professor Antonio (Tony) Sagona.

Incoming Lecturer in European History Ángel Alcalde brings expertise on the social and cultural history of war, transnational history and the history of fascism. He discusses his inspirations with Ross Karavis.

Fallon Mody recently caught up with an interdisciplinary group of Melbourne-based researchers - including our own Associate Professor Mike Arnold - who think about death for a living.

In 2018 Brigid Evans completed her Masters by research in the areas of political philosophy and philosophy of education. On a recent trip home from her new base in the UK, she chatted to Carley Tonoli about reflections on her research.

Reunion (2018) is a short animation by VCA Animation students Jackson Cook and Jenn Tran, in collaboration with History PhD candidate Anh Nguyen.

In 2018 Sadra completed a PhD at the Grimwade Centre for Cultural Materials Conservation. He talked to Georgia Garvey-Hawke from the SHAPS Engagement team about how his passion for conservation has taken him around the world...

Research into glass and faience objects from Cyprus in the late Bronze Age involves more than digging into the ancient past. Kellie Youngs reflects on her research and time in Greece.

Eight SHAPS graduate philosophers recently headed out to Monash to present their work at a major event for Australian philosophy postgraduates, the annual Australasian Postgraduate Philosophy Conference (APPC).

For her final-year capstone project, History major Claire Hannon decided to investigate the origins of a longstanding student institution: the University of Melbourne Food Co-op, established in 1976. What had driven the Food Co-op’s founders? And how might the history of the Food Co-op help to inspire new forms of student activism today? Claire’s project took her into the history …

Sophie Ritson completed her honours degree at the University of Melbourne in 2011, majoring in the History and Philosophy of Science. After finishing her PhD at the University of Sydney, Sophie’s academic work took her to Austria. She is now part of a large interdisciplinary team exploring how scientific knowledge is produced at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN in …

Queer history is a relatively new field of historical research that offers loads of untapped sources and stories. In this video, three History Honours students, Meghan Grech, Danielle Scrimshaw and Harriet Steele, talk about their research on Australia’s LGBTQI history from the 1840s to the 1990s. They reflect on: where they find meaning in their work as historians; what they …

Staff and students from Melbourne University’s archaeology fieldwork intensive subject in Georgia were pleasantly surprised when the Australian Ambassador to Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan, Marc Innes-Brown, and Second Secretary, Andrew Cooper, visited the site during the 2019 excavation season. The Ambassador shared his impressions of the visit with Larissa Tittl. The Ambassador was struck by both the beauty of the …

Trains and railroads hold a curious appeal for many of us, and they make compelling subjects for historical research. In 2018, History major Tim Lilley chose to produce his third-year capstone research project on the history of the Melbourne-Geelong railway. We showcase his outstanding project here, in the first of a series of posts spotlighting some of the best work …

What happens when an artwork is produced using technologies that later become obsolete? What special skills are needed by conservators working with old media? Tate conservator Patricia Falcão recently delivered a masterclass on this subject for Master of Cultural Materials Conservation students at the Grimwade Centre. Ashley Hayes, one of the postgraduate students who organised the masterclass, reports and reflects …

From second semester 2019, undergraduates at the University of Melbourne will be able to study Soviet history, with the launch of the second-year subject 'Red Empire: The Soviet Union and After'. This brand-new subject is part of the History program's curriculum revamp, led by Hansen Chair Professor Mark Edele. It also marks a revitalisation of Russian studies at the University …

Our annual newsletter celebrates the achievements of our students, past and present, and shares news about the research, teaching and other activities happening in the History program.

In 2018 Professor Antonia Finnane retired after 33 years working for the History program at the University of Melbourne. We present here excerpts from the speeches and tributes delivered at Antonia's farewell in November 2018.

Professor Tim Parkin’s reflections on his first year as Tatoulis Chair in Classics The reason the Greeks and Romans remain fascinating and significant to us in the modern world is because their influence is omnipresent and also because in studying them we constantly learn more about ourselves. In January 2018, Professor Tim Parkin arrived in Melbourne to take up a new position …

Incoming Lecturer in European History Ángel Alcalde brings expertise on the social and cultural history of war, transnational history and the history of fascism. He discusses his inspirations with Ross Karavis.

The undergraduate History Major at the University of Melbourne culminates in the capstone subject, Making History (HIST30060). In this subject, students are given the chance to design and produce an independent historical research project on a topic of their own choice.

The Classics & Archaeology program runs a weekly Ancient World research seminar series on Mondays at 1pm in Old Arts 107 (William Macmahon Ball Theatre) during each semester. The Ancient World series is aimed at a broad audience, from academics to students to members of the public. The seminars are not highly technical, and everyone is welcome to attend. Speakers are …

The History Brown Bag Seminar Series is the main forum to inform and be updated about new and cutting-edge research in our area. Running in both semesters on Thursdays from 1 to 2pm, this seminar is one of the main academic events in which SHAPS History staff, postgraduates, fellows and associates gather. It is also open to external participants and …

The History and Philosophy of Science program runs a weekly seminar series at 1pm Wednesdays during semester. All are welcome to attend. The seminars feature talks on the full range of the discipline, including historical studies, philosophical insights, social and cultural analyses of science, and metaresearch into scientific practices. Presenters include local, interstate and international scholars ranging from postgraduate students to …

The Philosophy Thursday Seminar Series features presentations by SHAPS Philosophy staff and collaborators in Melbourne, and from across Australia and the world. The range of issues covered in the seminar — from formal epistemology to the history of philosophy — reflects the variety of work done in the School. Enquiries about subscribing to the mailing list and for seminar details …

The Early Modern Circle is an informal, interdisciplinary seminar group open to interested students, academics and researchers. Seminars are presented by scholars, both established and emerging, national and international, working in the field of Early Modern Studies broadly conceived, whether in History, Art History, Literature, Music, and so on. Its activities are linked to the Early Modern Studies Research Hub …

Melbourne Eurasianist Seminar Series (MESS) is an interdisciplinary seminar series and research network for scholars working in Soviet/post-Soviet/Slavic studies, convened by Professor Mark Edele and Dr Julie Fedor. MESS meets roughly once a month during semester time. For more information or to be added to our mailing list, email  Dr Oleg Beyda. You can also find out more on our website or Facebook …

The Melbourne Logic Seminar meets most weeks of the semester (and sometimes outside the teaching semester) from 11am to 1pm on Fridays. It’s an active research seminar in logic and related fields, with active participants from universities across Melbourne. The seminar is currently convened by Dr Shawn Standefer. For further information contact Shawn via email, visit our website or visit us …

The Classics and Archaeology Postgraduate Society is a social and academic hub for postgraduate students studying everything from Near Eastern prehistoric archaeology to the army of the late Roman Empire. Postgraduate research is inherently solitary, so the Society attempts to break the idea that a postgraduate must be a lone student in a library carrel obscured by piles of monographs …

Melbourne University Classics & Archaeology Students Society (MUCLASS) is a club for anyone interested in ancient history, mythology, archaeology or the Classics. We run a broad range of social and academic events, including trivia nights, museum visits, board game sessions, and film screenings. Our committee structure is based on the ancient Roman cursus honourum, or ‘path of offices’ in which ambitious …

Student Conservators at Melbourne (SC@M) is the student group for the Master of Cultural Materials Conservation program at the Grimwade Centre, University of Melbourne. Our members are national and international student conservators and alumni from a variety of backgrounds including the Arts, Humanities and Sciences. We act as a liaison between students and the academic faculty and organise workshops, excursions and …

Konservaction is an Indonesian/Australian alliance focusing on the conservation of Indonesian heritage. Established in 2017 by students from the Master of Cultural Materials Conservation program at The University of Melbourne, the initiative provides an international platform for skills development in project management, workshop delivery, and cross-cultural teaching. Our first project – launched in response to the 2017 Mt Agung volcano activity …

Led by a committee elected annually in June by the History postgraduate cohort, the History Postgraduate Association (HPA) is committed to improving the experience of History students. We build solidarity and cohesion through events and activities, represent the voice of History postgraduate students, and provide avenues of communication between History students and our colleagues in SHAPS, the Faculty of Arts, and …

Since its establishment in 2017, the History Society has been tirelessly dedicated to upholding its central mission of promoting the study of history at the University of Melbourne, and creating an inclusive and welcoming community for students who have an interest in history. To this end, we run a number of educational and social events. From Indigenous heritage walks to …

The Philosophy Postgraduate Group (PPG) is a student society dedicated to the promotion of philosophy at the postgraduate level at the University of Melbourne. The main function of the PPG is to administer the Tuesday afternoon colloquium series – a forum where students can get feedback on their work, enhance their professional development and contribute to a sense of community …

The Melbourne University Philosophy Society (MUPS) is a primarily undergraduate society focussed on promoting and building the Philosophy community at the University. We run weekly events that are open to all year levels with the aim of providing a safe and encouraging environment for people to discuss and debate the great philosophical questions. We also aim to connect students with …

MAP Melb Uni is a chapter of the international organisation Minorities and Philosophy, which aims to examine and address issues of minority participation in academic philosophy. MAP’s role is to foster a sense of community and solidarity between students and staff who come from minority backgrounds. To do so, we host events such as reading groups, lectures and work-in-progress series, which …

The SHAPS Fellows & Associates Group was formed in 2005, when a group of retired academics, historians, classicists and archaeologists met monthly to discuss their current research. Fellows and Associates have not retired from their work. We all continue to publish books, chapters of books, journal articles, book reviews and entries in the Australian and international dictionaries of biography as …

Historical research is published across the globe in a number of languages other than English, and one must be able to read these works. Postgraduate students take different approaches to these languages, often taking classes offered by the University or seeking outside private instruction. But some likeminded students decided that coming together to read works in different languages and offer …

An informal group that meets on Wednesdays at 5:15pm in a friendly and supportive environment to read medieval (Byzantine) Greek texts. Anyone with any knowledge of Greek is welcome. Currently we are working on producing the first ever translation of the late eleventh-century Greek Chronicle of Kedrenos which 'covers' (perhaps the wrong word) the period from Creation to 811 CE …

The History Research Writing Group provides PhD students undertaking historical research the opportunity to develop their written work by having it reviewed and critiqued by their peers in a supportive and friendly setting. Typically, group members present work in progress, such as conference papers, journal articles or draft thesis chapters. To become a member of the group you must be currently …

Emporium is a research hub based at the University of Melbourne, dedicated to the long and rich histories of consumption, production, and consumer practices across time and space. It is premised on the understanding that all economic activity is culturally embedded. The hub is focused around four core research areas: Luxury, Advertising, Food, and Textiles. All are interrelated, but each also has …

Melbourne History Workshop is a studio-based research collaboratory in the History Program at the University of Melbourne under the direction of Professor Andrew May. It taps the pooled expertise of staff, research higher degree students and affiliates in order to provide innovative and rigorously-applied historical research, postgraduate training, industry collaboration and community-facing projects. The Workshop’s focus is the exciting synergy …

The Classics & Archaeology discipline within SHAPS has a unique resource for its researchers: our Classics & Archaeology Library. Housed mainly in Arts West 511 West Wing (the Classics Reading Room), the Library is a boutique non-lending research library for academic staff, honorary fellows, postgraduates, Honours students, and academic visitors. The C&A Library collection began in the 1970s as a combination …

Amphora is an independent, open-access journal that welcomes contributions from researchers working in a diverse range of fields: Classical Studies, Ancient History, Reception Studies, Digital Humanities, Egyptology and Archaeology. The journal is run by a voluntary editorial collective based at the University of Melbourne, with editors drawn from across Australia and New Zealand. All articles submitted to Amphora undergo a …

Published since 1961, the Melbourne Historical Journal (MHJ) is a refereed journal that aims to promote and publish new work by postgraduate and early career researchers. MHJ is usually published once a year. We also publish the occasional MHJ Research Series. The 2019 theme, Narratives and Power, was chosen to turn attention towards the ethical and social impact of historical practice, …

Chariot is an undergraduate history journal at the University of Melbourne, created by and for students. The journal provides a space for students to engage with history in their own way, publishing online and in print. Online submissions are always open. We consider essays, commentaries, reviews, and creative pieces (including short fiction, poetry and visual art) written by undergraduate students of the …

The Journal of Soviet and Post-Soviet Politics and Society (JSPPS) is a bi-annual interdisciplinary journal that was launched in 2015 as a companion journal to the Soviet and Post-Soviet Politics and Society book series (founded 2004 and edited by Andreas Umland). Like the book series, the journal provides an interdisciplinary forum for new original research on the Soviet and post-Soviet world. All …

Since its founding in 1962 by Max Charlesworth and Graeme De Graaff in the then Department of Philosophy at the University of Melbourne, Sophia has provided a forum for discussions in philosophy and religion, focusing on the interstices between metaphysics and critical theological thinking. The discussions encompass the wider ambience of the sciences ('natural' philosophy and human/social sciences), ethical and …

Grimwade Conservation Services specialises in all areas of art restoration and museum standard conservation to institutions and private clients. Programs include: conservation treatments and restoration of all types of materials; collection surveys; conservation strategy plans; disaster preparedness plans; research; and technical analysis. Our client base includes: national, state, regional and rural public collection and cultural organisations; amateur collecting societies and museums; …

‘Migration from Limnos to Australia: Re-discovering Identity, Belonging and "Home"' (PhD in History, 2019). This doctoral dissertation is a case study of migrants coming to Australia in the period 1950s–1970s, from Limnos (otherwise known as Lemnos), an Aegean island of Greece. The thesis explores intergenerational migration experiences by interrogating emerging themes that arise in the oral histories of three different cohorts. …

'Homosexuality in the USSR, 1956–82' (PhD in History, 2018). This thesis investigates the history of debates on homosexuality in the Soviet Union under Khrushchev and Brezhnev. Drawing on a range of hitherto unexplored archival and other sources I demonstrate that there was a lively discussion on the subject among various Soviet experts during this period. The findings of my thesis challenge …

'Lives of Sports Fans: Meaning in the Face of Inconsequence' (PhD, 2019). Spectator sport may seem inconsequential to everyday life, yet ordinary people expend intense emotional energy and devote vast amounts of time and money following (and cheering for) their favourites. Emotional whirlwinds and the inevitable suffering that the fluctuating fortunes of sports teams and athletes bring to the lives of …

'The Voice of Methodism: Temperance Policy in Victoria, Australia 1902–1977' (MA in History, 2018). This thesis seeks to examine the influence of the Methodist Church in Victoria, Australia, on public policy in the twentieth century using the issue of Temperance as a case study. Methodists had a tradition of social activism dating back to their eighteenth-century founder John Wesley. While the Church …

'Davidson's Objective -- Language and The Concept of Objectivity' (PhD in Philosophy, 2018). This thesis critically examines Donald Davidson’s claim that language plays a non-trivial role in explaining possession of the concept of objectivity. After showing that a priori arguments do not establish this claim, different versions of Davidson’s triangulation argument are developed and found wanting. Drawing on Michael Tomasello’s work …

'The Politics of Memory and Transitional Justice in Morocco' (PhD in History, 2018). This thesis investigated four decades of human rights abuses in Morocco and the transitional justice mechanisms implemented by the governing regime between 1990 and 2015 to reckon with this violent legacy. My critical discourse analysis of the official and opposition narratives about the past found in truth commissions, …

‘A Clamour of Voices: Negotiations of Power and Purpose in Australian Spoken-word Radio from 1924 to 1942' (PhD in History, 2019). This thesis views the history of early radio in Australia through the prism of its spoken-word output to argue that broadcasting was shaped not just by commercial interests and government bodies but also by the engagement of a diverse set …

'Visions of a Mutual Pacific Destiny: The Japan-Australia Society, 1896–1942' (PhD in History, 2019). This thesis examined the Japan-Australia Society from its 1928 founding until 1941. Uncovering the role of the leading citizens in business, academia, and conservative politics who formed its membership, the thesis showed that a significant segment of Australians accommodated Japan’s militarism and expansionism as congruent with …

'An Impossible Peace?: A Re-Examination of the Israeli-Palestinian Dispute' (PhD in History, 2019). This work argues that the Israeli-Palestinian dispute consists of multiple conflicts, and that each of these conflicts are one of two distinct types of conflict, either ‘territorial’ or ‘existential’. It discusses why many parties to and observers of the dispute are unaware that more than one type of …

'The Pear Tree: Family Narratives of Post-War Greek Macedonian Migration to Australia' (PhD in History, 2019). This thesis examined how migrants who left Florina, Greece, in the 1950s–1960s remember, narrate and transmit experiences of migration, and how complex ideas of home and identity have been mediated across three generations. Drawing on oral history interviews, it investigated whether Greek Macedonian regional …

'Art and Identity in the Age of Akhenaten' (PhD in Classics & Archaeology, 2019). In this thesis, I investigate expressions of identity in the art of the Amarna Period, focusing on two main areas: firstly, artistic representations of the royal family and the Aten and, secondly, artistic representations of Amarna's elite within their tombs. I argue that rapid social and theological …

'Somali Piracy as a Manifestation of State Failure: A Historical Context for Somali Piracy and its Suppression' (PhD in History, 2019). This thesis establishes the Somali piracy epidemic of 2008–2012 as a conflict between how Somalis perceived their own sovereign authority and the rules of centralised state norms established by the international community. I argue that as the dominant force in …

'The Later Roman Naval Forces of the Northern Frontier, 3rd–5th Centuries CE' (MA in Classics & Archaeology, 2019). This MA thesis provides an overview of the existence, distribution, and function of naval forces operating along the Northern Frontier of the Roman Empire from the third to fifth centuries CE. Despite the vast amount of research dedicated to the Roman military, later …

'Integration or Separation? Educational Justice Requirements for the Disabled' (MA in Philosophy, 2018). In academic political philosophy, there is currently much enthusiasm surrounding the development of integration as a requirement of social justice. The application of integration to educational policy already exists but has centred on overcoming racial and/or economic segregation. Integration as a moral ideal is yet to be fully …

'A Revolution in Just War Theory? Expanding the Laws and Ethics of War to Cover Revolutionary Conflict' (PhD in Philosophy, 2018). Can just war theory be extended to cover revolutionary conflict and other forms of intrastate war? In short, it can be. Yet how this might be achieved is contingent on one’s commitment to particular groupings of the different methodological, legal …

'"That Great Country to Which We Must Constantly Look": Australia and the United States in the Development of Australian Federation' (PhD in History, 2018). This thesis examined Australian federation in the context of Australian-United States relations, particularly the influence of the US on the development of the Australian Constitution in the 1890s, and placed Australian federation in its transnational context. Drawing …

'Sport and the Australian War Effort during the First World War: Concord and Conflict' (PhD in History, 2018). With concerns surrounding national security emerging from 1900 onward ideas surrounding the playing of sport as a preparation for warfare became common. The outbreak of war in 1914 oversaw the variable explosion of this connection between playing and battlefields. Through propaganda, recruitment, fund-raising, …

'Childhood, War and Memory: Experiences of Bosnian Child Refugees in Australia' (PhD in History, 2019). This thesis explores the impact of war and displacement on children who moved to Australia during and after the 1992–1995 war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It takes as its starting point the knowledge that the Bosnian war – like all wars – has predominantly been studied …

'Creating Space to Listen: Museums, Participation and Intercultural Dialogue' (PhD in History, 2019). This thesis examined the emergence, practice, and social meaning of intercultural dialogue as participatory practice in museums. I based my research on a project I worked on at Melbourne's Immigration Museum called Talking Difference, which invited participants to record video questions and answers in response to one another …

'Documenting Artefacts and Archives in the Relational Museum' (PhD in History, 2019). This cross-disciplinary thesis explores the history of archives and collections description in contemporary museums, with a particular focus on the mid-1960s to the present. Looking at changing technologies through case studies including Museums Victoria and comparative Australian, American and British institutions, it examines how these developments relate to our evolving understanding of things and …

'Between Nationalism and Assimilation: Jewish Antifascism in Australia in the Late 1940s and Early 1950s' (PhD in History, 2019). This thesis argues that Jewish antifascism was a major political and cultural force in Australian Jewish communities in the 1940s and early 1950s. It charts the emergence of a non-nationalist and anti-assimilationist Australian Jewish antifascist political subjectivity, and examines its ideological basis, …

'The Craft of Belonging: Exploring the Resettlement Experiences of Young Tamil Survivors of Sri Lanka's Civil War' (PhD in History, 2019). Belonging and memory, shaped by social and political conditions of civil war and forced migration, are the central themes of this thesis, which explores the life stories of 36 young Tamil people who arrived in Australia in the 1980s …

'A Principled Reason to Prefer Causal Explanation in the Sciences' (PhD in Philosophy, 2018). Not all scientific explanations are causal; some are non-causal. Can we find any reason to prefer one over the other? If the explanations are competing to explain the same phenomenon and adjudicating between them cannot be done on empirical grounds, I will argue there is still a …

'Anthropomorphic Machines: Alien Sensation and Experience in Nonhumans Created to Be Like Us' (PhD in History & Philosophy of Science, 2018). This thesis is positioned at the intersection of technology studies and the nonhuman turn in the humanities. It argues that typical approaches to the study of technology omit any consideration of the alien nature of nonhuman sensation and experience. It …

'At the Intersection of Heritage Preservation, Urban Transformation, and Everyday Life in the Twentieth-Century Australian City' (PhD in History, 2018). This thesis investigated the history and theory of urban heritage conservation in Australia's capital cities during the twentieth century. He placed the evolution of Australian urban conservation in its social, cultural and economic contexts both locally and internationally. He explored a …

'Ground for Knowing: Minerals, Mining Science and the Making of Modern China’s Territory (1860–1937)' (PhD in History, 2018). The thesis uses mining science (kuangxue) to examine the relationship between science and socio-cultural change in late Qing and early Republican China (1860–1937). It explores the ways in which the theoretical and applied knowledge of minerals and mining intersected with the conceptualisation …

'Nostalgia and the Warzone Home: American and Australian Veterans Return to Việt Nam, 1981–2016' (PhD in History, 2018). From 1981 to 2016, thousands of Australian and American veterans returned to Việt Nam. In this comparative oral history investigation, I examine why veterans returned and how they reacted to the people and places of Việt Nam—their former enemies, allies, and battlefields—as the war receded further …

'Liberty, Licentiousness and Libel: The London Newspaper 1695–1742' (PhD in History, 2019). Press freedom is a principle that has been contested throughout its history. Western democracies hold the liberty of expression dear, and valorise the press as an essential check upon government. But, in the contemporary era, ‘free speech’ and ‘the free press’ are often co-opted in defence of extreme, and …

'Tree-sits, Barricades and Lock-ons: Obstructive Direct Action and the History of the Environmental Movement, 1979–1990' (PhD in History, 2018). During the 1980s the protection of bio-diverse places became a major global issue. In part this resulted from efforts by Indigenous people in a variety of countries to protect and reclaim territories. Challenges to dominant practices also came from non-Indigenous conservationists and …

'Evangelists for Freedom: Libertarian Populism and the Intellectual Origins of Modern Conservatism, 1930–1950' (MA in History, 2018). This thesis examines the history of rightwing anti-statist thought in twentieth-century America from 1930 to 1950, focusing on the works of an array of intellectuals, politicians and activists who forged a distinct synthesis of classical American individualism with a populist critique of the nascent …

'Doctors Down Under: European Medical Migrants in Victoria (Australia), 1930–60' (PhD in History & Philosophy of Science, 2019). The middle of the twentieth-century saw an unprecedented mass relocation of medical practitioners – through forced migration, military service, and as economic migrants. Between 1930 and 1960, over three thousand medical migrants – that is, overseas-trained medical graduates – are known to …

'Changes in the Chemical Composition of Archaeological Wood Caused by Exposure to Different Environments and Its Relation with the Other Properties' (PhD in cultural materials & conservation, 2018). This thesis aims to characterise the deterioration mechanisms of dry cultural heritage wood by applying a multi-analytical technique that is comparable to that used for waterlogged archaeological wood. The deterioration and degradation resulting …

'East Greek Pottery and Graeco-Anatolian Mercenaries in the Southern Levant in Iron Age IIC (ca. 600 BCE)' (PhD in Ancient World Studies, 2018). This thesis questions the current scholarly consensus that East Greek mercenaries were responsible for the late seventh-century BCE East Greek pottery found in the Southern Levant. It is argued that it is possible that the pottery could also …

'At Water's Edge: Empire, Disorder, and Commerce on the Docks in British America, 1714–1774' (MA in History, 2018). Early modern British imperial commerce focused its trading operations upon the orderly extraction of wealth from its colonies. This thesis argues that a key area of this process was the urban waterfront sector in its Atlantic port cities in the Caribbean and North …

'The Mattering of Others and the Possibility of Politics' (PhD in Philosophy, 2019). This thesis asks how our thinking about politics might be informed by a particular approach to thinking about morality. I begin by arguing that the moral mattering of others is something that is encountered in the world, and not the conclusion of a rational process. I go on …

'Identifying, Characterising and Mapping the Deterioration of Cellulose Nitrate in Museum Collections: An Archaeological Adhesive Case Study' (PhD in Cultural Materials Conservation, 2018). Introduced in the 1870s, cellulose nitrate (CN) has been widely used as a plastic, in film, coatings and adhesives. Research has shown CN to be an inherently unstable material, subject to rapid, irreversible deterioration. It also has the …

'Botanic Motifs of the Bronze Age Cycladic Islands: Identity, Belief, Ritual and Trade' (PhD in Classics & Archaeology, 2019). This thesis argues the motifs with which we surround ourselves signify something – about us, our identities, our values and our understanding of the world. Frequently and infrequently represented motifs tell us something about the culture from which they come. Assemblages of …

'A Justification for Deduction and Its Puzzling Corollary' (PhD in Philosophy, 2019). This thesis examines how deduction is analytic and, at the same time, informative. The first two chapters are dedicated to the justification of deduction. This justification is circular, but not trivially circular as not every rule can be justified circularly. Moreover, deductive rules may not need suasive justification because …

'Problems in Greek Textual Criticism' (MA in Classics & Archaeology, 2019). The thesis is written in the form of a traditional dissertation on textual criticism, namely with various isolated notes on select philological problems found in a wide number of ancient authors, from the Classical to the Byzantine period. Supervisor: Dr Hyun Jin Kim    

'Prime Ministers: Gender and Power in Australian Political History, 1902–1975' (PhD in History, 2019). This thesis offers an historical examination of the relationship between gender, political authority and prime ministers in Australia from Federation to 1975. By analysing contestations of political legitimacy through embodied styles of manhood and the languages of gender, I aim to expand our understanding of national leadership …

'Jack the Ripper: The Divided Self and the Alien Other in Late-Victorian Culture and Society' (PhD in History & Philosophy of Science, 2019). This thesis examines late nineteenth-century public and media representations of the infamous 'Jack the Ripper' murders of 1888. Focusing on two of the most popular theories of the day – Jack as exotic 'alien' foreigner and Jack as …

'Cycladic Sculptures Decorated with Abstract Painted Motifs: Representations of Tattooing in the Prehistoric Aegean' (PhD in Classics & Archaeology, 2019). In historical literature pertaining to Cycladic sculptures, several writers suggest that some of the painted motifs on the surface of these marble sculptures may represent tattoos. This thesis seeks to undertake the first systematic research into answering the question: ‘Did Cycladic …

'Writing Women: The Women’s Pages of the Malay-Language Press, 1987–1998' (PhD in History, 2019). This thesis investigates depictions of Malay-Muslim women in two Malay-language newspapers, contrasting the portrayals on the women’s pages with how women were depicted on the 'malestream' leader and religion pages. The period examined falls between two political storms, the Operasi Lallang (1987) and the Reformasi (1998). Malaysian …

'Colonial Soundscapes: A Cultural History of Sound Recording in Australia, 1880–1930' (PhD in History, 2019). ‘Colonial Soundscapes’ is the first cultural history of the early phonograph and gramophone in Australian settler society. Drawing on recent work in sound studies and the history of sound, Henry Reese conceives of the ‘talking machine’ as part of the soundscape of colonial modernity in colonial …

'"Our own worst enemy": Southern Anti-Slavery Networks and Rhetoric in Early Republic and Antebellum America' (MA in History, 2019). This thesis examines Southern-born anti-slavery activists. By analysing one hundred anti-slavery Southerners, this thesis illuminates a deeply interconnected network of anti-slavery that was not just limited to the South, but one that intersected with Northern anti-slavery movements. This thesis examines how an …

'Boundaries between Individual and Communal Authorship of Aboriginal Art in Context of Clifford Possum's Tjapaltjarri's Art and the Case of R v O'Loughlin (2001) (PhD in Art History and Indigenous Studies, 2019). This research concerns the oeuvre of Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri in the context of art fraud. Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri was an Anmatyerr man (c1932–2002). His art was the subject of …

'Saving the Last Continent: Environmentalists, Celebrities and States in the Campaign for a World Park Antarctica, 1978–1991' (PhD in History, 2019). Between 1978 and 1991, the global environmental movement achieved an unparalleled success: overturning a decision to introduce mining in Antarctica and instead securing a comprehensive environmental protection agreement for the entire continent. This study explains how and why such a …

'The Structured Uses of Concepts as Tools: Comparing fMRI Experiments that Investigate either Mental Imagery or Hallucinations' (PhD in History & Philosophy of Science, 2019). Sensations can occur in the absence of perception and yet be experienced ‘as if’ seen, heard, tasted, or otherwise perceived. Two concepts used to investigate types of these sensory-like mental phenomena (SLMP) are mental imagery and …

'Playing the Hand You're Dealt: Well-being and the Poker-Hand Account' (MA in Philosophy, 2018). This thesis advances a novel theory of wellbeing called the poker-hand account. On this account, welfare is not one-dimensional (as is traditionally supposed) but two-dimensional. This bipartite model of welfare draws a distinction between how a person is ‘going’ (what states-of-affairs obtain, regardless of whether they are …

'Culture, Civilization, and Christianity: "Anti-Mission" in Lord Salisbury's Policy towards India' (PhD in History, 2019). This research aims to explore the internal tensions of British imperialism by revealing the conflicts over the meanings and values of British civilising mission in India. It expounds the seemingly inconsistent and controversial policy of Lord Salisbury towards India, with a special emphasis on the differences …

Nicole Davis is a PhD candidate at the University of Melbourne and a member of the Melbourne History Workshop based at the university. Her thesis examines the social history of the shopping arcade in nineteenth-century Australia from a transnational perspective. She works on diverse research projects about the history of the Australian city, which have included the My Marvellous Melbourne …

Anton is a PhD student in History, with his thesis research examining Australian remembrance of the Second World War in the 1940s and 1950s. Currently co-President of the History Postgraduate Association (2019/2020) and a former editor of Melbourne Historical Journal, Anton is passionate about fostering collegiality and creating a mutually supportive environment.

Samara Greenwood is currently completing a Graduate Diploma in History and Philosophy of Science.  What began as a side-interest alongside her other life as an architect has turned into a strong passion. In particular, Samara enjoys the interdisciplinary focus of HPS and how it encourages integrating historical, philosophical and sociological approaches to scholarship. Her current interest is in scientific practice …

Jennifer is an MA candidate in History at the University of Melbourne. Her thesis research focuses on the identity, social status and activities of pizzochere (lay religious women) in sixteenth-century Venice. Her previous research on the relic cult of Saint Catherine of Siena in fifteenth-century Venice has been published in Renaissance Studies. She is a current ACIS-Save Venice Research Fellow (2019), and is also …

Nayree’s research concerns twentieth-century Middle Eastern and US diplomatic history. Post-war Lebanon is also a subject of interest, especially memory and reconciliation practices that have occurred since the end of the country’s second civil war (1975–1990). Nayree’s MA focused specifically on apologies given for civil war atrocities in Lebanon and she has published issues concerning this topic in the ANU …

Jonathan is a PhD student in History, researching the role of militarised student organisations in the development of post-independence Indonesia. He is interested in histories of student activism and the role of youth in national development, within both militarised and non-militarised settings. Jonathan is also a current member of the Melbourne Historical Journal collective.

Larissa Tittl is a PhD candidate in the Classics and Archaeology Program. Her research focuses on human-landscape interactions in Late Bronze Age Crete. In particular, she is examining how votive objects deposited in caves were used as agents of manipulation and negotiation within an animistic world in which human and non-human entities engaged with and related to one another. Larissa …

Carley Tonoli is currently a PhD candidate at the University of Melbourne, based in the Philosophy Program. Her research focuses on the ethics of emerging technologies, and her current work looking at emerging military technologies, their ethical implications, and potential consequences for humanity and the future of war. Carley's research is informed by her previous work and studies in the …

Isabella Walker is an emerging paintings conservator currently completing a Master of Cultural Materials Conservation at the Grimwade Centre. In 2015 she completed a Bachelor of Arts with First-Class Honours at the University of Melbourne, majoring in English and Art History. She is currently completing a minor thesis that examines the links that can be drawn between the history of …

Georgia Garvey-Hawke is an emerging historian and conservator, currently completing a Master of Cultural Materials Conservation at the Grimwade Centre. In 2016 she earned a BH-Arts Degree with First-Class Honours, with a double major in History and English and Theatre Studies, at the University of Melbourne. The remarkable tale of survival of the John Henry Austral vinyl records, which Georgia …

Ashley Hayes is an artist and emerging conservator. She is currently completing a Master of Cultural Materials Conservation at the Grimwade Centre. Her minor thesis is exploring the post-acquisition strategies for performance artworks within Australian art institutions. She completed a Bachelor of Visual Art specialising in sculpture and installation in 2015, receiving First-Class Honours, at the University of South Australia.

Argyris (Ross) Karavis is a Doctoral candidate in History at the University of Melbourne researching the impact of French gastronomic taste on Australian food culture between 1850 and 1914. He has previously undertaken research on the 1901 Federation Dinners and on the emergence of yum cha in Australia in the 1990s as part of the Master of Arts in Food …

Fallon Mody is a PhD candidate in the History and Philosophy of Science Program, researching European medical migrants in twentieth-century Australia. Her research has been published in international academic journals, including Women's History Review and Social History of Medicine. Fallon also works as a research assistant for the Centre for Excellence for Biosecurity Risk Analysis in an interdisciplinary team of scientists, …

Dang Nguyen is a second-year PhD candidate in the School of Historical and Philosophical Studies (SHAPS) at the University of Melbourne. She is working under the supervision of Associate Professor Michael Arnold (SHAPS) and Associate Professor Richard Chenhall (MSPGH). Her PhD project investigates the performance of non-biomedical knowledge on the internet. The aim is to understand how digital technologies influence the propagation of knowledge …

Sofie Onorato is a PhD candidate in History at the University of Melbourne. Her thesis examines the nineteenth-century English newspaper and its development, specifically in relation to the Franco-Prussian War. She is interested in how technology, politics, genre and commercial considerations create intersections between media and society. Currently, Sofie is a member of the editorial team for the Melbourne Historical …

The 2019 SHAPS theme is "Walls" — walls we build to exclude and contain the Other, to control the movement of people, bodies, information, capital, ideas. Speakers will approach the theme from a range of disciplinary perspectives. Marking the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall, we look at the historical rise and fall of walls; we examine …

In 2018 speakers in included David Christian (Macquarie), Philip Pettit (ANU/Princeton), Harry Collins (Cardiff), and Greg Restall, Robyn Sloggett and Frederik Vervaet (SHAPS), who delivered public lectures on the subject of Truth. Professor David Christian Big History & Truth: Knowledge as Mapping (co-hosted with the History Council of Victoria, this was also the 2018 Kathleen Fitzpatrick lecture) (19 April) Professor Philip Pettit …

The theme for the 2017 SHAPS Public Lecture Series was “Love”. This was part of a broader series of events on this theme, in particular, the ARC Centre for the History of Emotions’ flagship collaborative exhibition, Love: Art of Emotion 1400-1820 at the National Gallery Victoria Each of the School’s five disciplines presented a lecture in the series, approaching the theme of love from a range of …

Who am I? What does it mean to be human? Where do I belong? These have always been central and urgent questions for the humanities. The 2016 SHAPS flagship public lecture series explored such questions under the broad theme of “Identities”. The concept of identity, both individual and collective, is fraught with complexity. There has always existed a multiform universe …

Videos and audio from the 2015 Conflict series are available where linked. We will be loading more as they become available. Program Dr David M. Pritchard War and Military Spending in the Ancient Athenian Democracy Professor Guoqi Xu The First World War and China’s Great Awakening Rodric Braithwaite Managing Putin Image: riots-14, 2012. Photograph © Thanasis Troboukis via Flickr CC BY-NC 2.0