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How Do You Crack the Code to a Lost Ancient Script?
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 […]blogs.unimelb.edu.au/shaps-research/2019/11/07/how-do-you-crack-the-code-to-a-lost-ancient-script
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Tracing the Evolution of Cancer Cytogenetics: An Interview with PhD candidate Lynda Campbell
After retiring from a distinguished scientific career, Lynda Campbell developed an interest in the history of her field. -
Living the French Revolution: A Symposium in Honour of Peter McPhee
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 […] -
Researching History on the High Seas
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 […]blogs.unimelb.edu.au/shaps-research/2019/10/18/researching-history-on-the-high-seas
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The Woman Who Stitched Her Way into Art History
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 […]blogs.unimelb.edu.au/shaps-research/2019/10/14/the-woman-who-stitched-her-way-into-art-history
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Hansen Trust PhD Scholarship in History
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, […]blogs.unimelb.edu.au/shaps-research/2019/10/09/hansen-trust-phd-scholarship-in-history
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Real Problem, Wrong Solution: Why The Nationals Shouldn’t Politicise the Science Replication Crisis
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’. […] -
On Studying Chinese History in Melbourne: An Interview with Dr Xavier Ma
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 […] -
Conserving Australia’s Cultural Record
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 […]blogs.unimelb.edu.au/shaps-research/2019/09/26/conserving-australias-cultural-record
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Refugees, Museums and the Digital Diaspora
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 […]blogs.unimelb.edu.au/shaps-research/2019/09/16/refugees-museums-and-the-digital-diaspora
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Constructing Social Hierarchy: Conference Recap
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 […]blogs.unimelb.edu.au/shaps-research/2019/09/11/constructing-social-hierarchy
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repliCATS: Responding to the Replication Crisis in Science
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. […] -
Fighting for the Historical Record in the Age of Trump
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 […] -
Writing the History of Gender and Sexuality in Australia: An Interview with History Honours Students
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 […] -
Conservators at Work on Melbourne’s Metro Tunnel Project
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 […]blogs.unimelb.edu.au/shaps-research/2019/08/09/conservators-at-work
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From Melbourne to Hanoi via Sarajevo (and Everything In Between): Where a PhD Can Lead You
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 […]blogs.unimelb.edu.au/shaps-research/2019/08/07/from-melbourne-to-hanoi-via-sarajevo
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From the Field: SHAPS Students in the Southern Caucasus
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 […]blogs.unimelb.edu.au/shaps-research/2019/08/01/from-the-field
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Archaeologists at Work on Melbourne’s Metro Tunnel Project
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 […]blogs.unimelb.edu.au/shaps-research/2019/07/24/archaeologists-at-work
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Building Rail, Building Victoria: A History of the Melbourne–Geelong Railway
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 […]blogs.unimelb.edu.au/shaps-research/2019/06/28/building-rail-building-victoria
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Time-based Media Conservation: Masterclass with Patricia Falcão from Tate
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 […]blogs.unimelb.edu.au/shaps-research/2019/06/18/time-based-media-conservation
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Meet Dr Holly Lawford-Smith: Prize-winning Author, SHAPS Philosopher, and Seamstress Extraordinaire!
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 […]blogs.unimelb.edu.au/shaps-research/2019/06/04/holly-lawford-smith
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Partnering with Regional Museums and Galleries: Grimwade Graduates in Bathurst
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.blogs.unimelb.edu.au/shaps-research/2019/05/30/grimwade-graduates-in-bathurst
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From Bretton Woods to Financial Crisis: The Rise and Fall of Global Economic Governance
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. -
From History Major to ABC Journalist: An Interview with Bindi Bryce
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. -
Tracking Traditional Medicine on the Vietnamese Internet: Dang Nguyen to Visit Yale
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. -
Revisiting Augustus’s Alternative Truth
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 seriesblogs.unimelb.edu.au/shaps-research/2019/05/01/revisiting-augustuss-alternative-truth
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On Language and Listening to One Another: Dr Ross Barham on the Value of Philosophy
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. -
Where Strange Fruit Meets Eating Out: Food Studies at Melbourne
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. -
Fascinating Strangers: Dr Tessa Leach’s Work on Sex Robots
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.blogs.unimelb.edu.au/shaps-research/2019/04/12/fascinating-strangers
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Brian Nosek on the Open Science Movement
A lecture delivered by Brian Nosek as part of the 2019 SHAPS ‘Walls’ Public Lecture Series, on 4 April 2019. Publish or perish – a scientific career is based on getting published in peer reviewed academic journals. But this pressure increases the risk for scientists to employ flexible analytic and selective reporting practices. The Open […]blogs.unimelb.edu.au/shaps-research/2019/04/04/walls-can-fall-the-open-science-movement
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History Alumni News 2018
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.blogs.unimelb.edu.au/shaps-research/2019/04/02/history-alumni-newsletter-2018
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Unlocking Ancient Scripts: 2019 Michael Ventris Award winner, Brent Davis
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. -
Farewelling Professor Antonia Finnane
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.blogs.unimelb.edu.au/shaps-research/2019/03/28/farewelling-professor-antonia-finnane
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A Year in Melbourne
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 […]blogs.unimelb.edu.au/shaps-research/2019/03/17/a-year-in-melbourne
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Honouring the Life and Work of Tony Sagona
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.blogs.unimelb.edu.au/shaps-research/2019/02/20/re-orienting-ancient-near-eastern-studies
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Introducing Ángel Alcalde: New Lecturer in Twentieth-century European History
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.blogs.unimelb.edu.au/shaps-research/2019/02/19/interview-introducing-angel-alcalde
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Disposal of the Dead: The Intersection of Death & Technology
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.blogs.unimelb.edu.au/shaps-research/2019/02/18/disposal-of-the-dead
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Meet Brigid Evans, recent SHAPS Master of Arts, Philosophy graduate
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. -
Animating SHAPS Research: Collaboration with VCA Animation Students
Reunion (2018) is a short animation by VCA Animation students Jackson Cook and Jenn Tran, in collaboration with History PhD candidate Anh Nguyen.blogs.unimelb.edu.au/shaps-research/2019/02/16/reunion-2018-history-vca-collaboration-project
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Reconstructing Knowledge: Sadra Zekrgoo’s Persian Ink PhD Project
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... -
An Aegean Adventure: Kellie Youngs on her Jessie Webb Scholarship
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.blogs.unimelb.edu.au/shaps-research/2019/02/14/an-aegean-adventure
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The 2018 Australian Postgraduate Philosophy Conference
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). -
Undergraduate Subjects: History Capstone Showcase 2018
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.blogs.unimelb.edu.au/shaps-research/2019/02/10/undergraduate-subjects-history-capstone-showcase-2018
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Classics & Archaeology Ancient World Seminar Series
The Ancient World Seminar Series, hosted by the Classics & Archaeology Program, is aimed at a broad audience, from academics to students to members of the public. The seminars are based on current research done in the School, and everyone is welcome to attend. Speakers are asked to present on topics having to do with […]blogs.unimelb.edu.au/shaps-research/2019/02/08/classics-archaeology-ancient-world-seminar-series
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History Brown Bag Seminar Series
The History Brown Bag Seminar Series brings together a lively variety of history papers on any region of the world and on periods from the Early Modern era to present, with a diversity of methodologies including historians from outside the History discipline (e.g., Economics, Law and Medicine). The program includes postgraduate completion seminars, research presentations […]blogs.unimelb.edu.au/shaps-research/2019/02/06/history-brown-bag-seminar-series
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History & Philosophy of Science Seminar Series
The History and Philosophy of Science program runs a weekly seminar series from 12 noon to 1pm on Wednesdays during semester. All are welcome to attend! You can find information about the location of seminars, a schedule of forthcoming talks, as well as details of past presentations, on the HPS website. Remote attendance options are available for most […]blogs.unimelb.edu.au/shaps-research/2019/02/04/history-philosophy-of-science-seminar-series
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Philosophy Thursday Seminar
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 […]blogs.unimelb.edu.au/shaps-research/2019/02/01/philosophy-thursday-seminar
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Textiles & Fashion Research Group Seminar Series
Initiated in 2014 in the School of Historical & Philosophical Studies, the Textiles and Fashion Research Group (formerly the Textiles Reading Group) draws together academics, curators, textile experts and fashion creatives working across a varied range of fields, from Renaissance modes of luxury, dress in China, Islamic textiles, and early modern undergarments, to Australian colonial […]blogs.unimelb.edu.au/shaps-research/2019/02/01/textiles-fashion-research-group-seminar-series
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The Early Modern Circle
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 […]blogs.unimelb.edu.au/shaps-research/2019/02/01/the-early-modern-circle
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The HPS Podcast
The HPS Podcast shares fascinating contemporary research in History and Philosophy of Science with those outside the discipline. Each episode is designed to be short, engaging and entertaining. Covering a wide range of topics, this is a podcast for anyone with a fascination for history, philosophy, psychology, sociology, human inquiry and those who simply wish to […]blogs.unimelb.edu.au/shaps-research/2019/01/28/the-hps-podcast
Number of posts found: 447