Newsletter - 17th February 2025 - Centre for Contemporary Histories (CCH)

Welcome to our fortnightly newsletter. If you have things you’d like to share with the CCH community, please email Anna before the next fortnightly newsletter. We will also share news and updates on Facebook and LinkedIn.

News from Members and Associates

Mia Martin Hobbs, David Lowe and Carolyn Holbrook have a new publication out: “The Rise of National Security in the 1930s: An Australian Case Study” is now published in Volume 60, Issue 1 of Journal of Contemporary History.

Congratulations to Andrew Singleton who has published his new book, Let the Dead Speak: Spiritualism in Australia, co-authored with Matt Tomlinson (ANU), through Manchester University Press. The book is based on a six-year project on Spiritualism, the religion that speaks with the dead. You can order the book here.

Joan Beaumont responding to speakers at the Symposium celebrating her career.

Last Friday the CCH, along with the ANU Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, hosted a symposium celebrating the career and work of Professor Joan Beaumont. It was a wonderful day recognising the huge influence that Joan has had on historical scholarship and understanding in Australia and around the world, but also on all the students, scholars and others that she has worked with across her career.

Seminar Series

Our 2025 Seminar Series will kick off in Week 1 of Trimester 1. We are still looking to fill slots across the year, so if you would like to share your research with the collegiate and engaged audience that the CCH offers, please do get in touch with Anna.

Events

ADI Lunchtime Seminar – How to Build a Trust Lab for Partnership, Research, and Impact
12pm – 1pm, 12 March 2025
Burwood (C2.05.01) or via Zoom

In Australia and New Zealand, declining trust in governments and institutions has raised concerns about public confidence in policy decisions, posing challenges to effective governance on critical national and regional issues. This pressing problem calls for collaborative approaches to rebuild trust and foster stronger relationships between governments and communities.

The current CRIS project, Capacity Building to Rebuild Trust in Civil Society, investigates these issues. Building on the recent report Do Governments Trust Communities?, a key aim of the project is the development of a “Trust Lab”. Please book your spot via this link.

Graduate Oral History Intensive
May 2025
4-day online course offered by Oral History Victoria, taught by Carla Pascoe Leahy, Sarah Rood and Alistair Thomson.
Are you a PhD, Masters or Honours student, or a post-doc, about to start a research project using oral history – and need training to get you on the right track? Perhaps you’ve already started a graduate oral history project and want advice and support? You may be a historian, or you work in another social science or humanities discipline that uses life story interviews. This four-day, online training course could be just what you need. Course fees are $500 for Oral History Victoria and Oral History Australia members and $750 for non-members. Registration and more information is available here.

CCH/APH Policy Brief Workshop for PhD/ECRs
26 May 2025
Deakin Downtown

Are you a PhD candidate or ECR interested in learning how to write a policy brief? Join us at Deakin Downtown for a whole-day workshop to learn the ropes of policy writing and translate your expert knowledge into advice for policymakers.

The workshop will include an overview and examples of what a policy brief should entail, scenarios based on your area of research, free-writing a plan/draft a policy brief, feedback from peers and CCH mentors, and a reflective session for questions and concerns. Dr Sarah Pinto and A/Prof Carolyn Holbrook will offer advice from their experience teaching and writing policy briefs, and participants will be invited to submit their policy briefs for publication in Australian Policy History.

If you are interested in joining the workshop, please RSVP to mia.martinhobbs@deakin.edu.au by 28 April with the following information:

Main research project
Suggestions of potential policy issues related to your research
Any dietary requirements

Pacific History Association Conference
2 – 4 December 2025, Samoa

The 26th Pacific History Association (PHA) Conference will take place from December 2-4, 2025, at the National University of Samoa, Apia, Samoa.

The conference theme, “Le Solosolo’ū: Resilience in the Face of Adversity,” explores the historical resilience of Pacific communities in navigating challenges. We invite historians and scholars from diverse disciplines to contribute to discussions on historical narratives of resilience, cultural practices demonstrating adaptability, and innovative solutions to adversity in Pacific contexts. Through these multifaceted perspectives, we aim to deepen our understanding of how Pacific people have historically confronted and overcome various challenges, showcasing their enduring strength and adaptability. This theme provides a rich framework for examining the ways in which Pacific communities have demonstrated resilience throughout history, offering insights into their cultural practices, problem- solving approaches, and adaptive strategies in the face of adversity.

The call for papers is now open, you can find more details here. Submissions are due 31 March.

CCH Research Grants and other opportunities

If you have plans for research in 2025, you can apply for a 2025 research grant now!

It is important that you read the new guidelines before you apply for a grant. Check out the guidelines and the application forms in our hub site.

Keep an eye out for Researcher Development Academy workshops available over coming months. For full details of workshops ranging from recruiting graduate researchers to impact to grant writing support and running mostly just 1-2 hours in length, see this RDA page.

There are also research training opportunities available through Deakin eResearch for high-performance computing, MS Excel, programming, data management, cleaning, visualisation, exploration and more. More details are here.

CCH Shut Up and Write

every Monday, 9am-1.30pm, via Zoom.

Start the week strong with a Shut Up and Write! We will run 4 x 50 minute blocks of writing/focus, with breaks in between to chat, grab coffees, etc. All CCH colleagues welcome, especially ECRs, HDRs, and those who work remotely. Feel free to join at any time – it doesn’t matter if you can’t make it to every session, or every block in a session, just come when you can.

The zoom link is here. (Meeting ID: 822 0730 8335, Password: 65182364)
If you would like a recurring invite in your calendar, or you have any trouble joining, email Mia at mia.martinhobbs@deakin.edu.au

Opportunities

Journal of Pacific History Publication Incentive Grant

The Journal of Pacific History Inc. invites qualified persons to apply for a Publication Incentive grant. These competitive grants are offered to help support early career Pacific historians to prepare manuscripts for submission to the Journal of Pacific History for peer review. Anyone who has completed a PhD or MA since 2019 in a field relevant to Pacific history, or who is currently enrolled for a doctorate in such a field, can apply for a grant of $3,000 to prepare a manuscript for submission to peer review. Applications are due by the 30 September 2025, and more details and instructions are available in this link.

Australian Academy of the Humanities’ 2025 Grants and Awards Program

Max Crawford Medal – Australia’s most prestigious award for achievement and promise in the Humanities, the Max Crawford Medal recognises an early-career scholar in the humanities whose publications contribute towards an understanding of their discipline. This award relies on nominations, and we encourage all to nominate an ECMR doing exciting work in their field.

John Mulvaney Fellowship – Awarded to an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander early-career researcher or PhD student working in any area of the humanities, the John Mulvaney Fellowship provides $4,000 to support research or fieldwork in Australia or overseas. This award accepts self-nominations.

McCredie Musicological Award – Recognising outstanding contributions in musicology by an Australian early career scholar. It is one of Australia’s most prestigious awards for the study of musicology — from performance practice, music in the cultural context, through to the theory, analysis and composition.

Publication Subsidy Scheme – The Publication Subsidy Scheme supports early-career researchers with costs of up to $3,000 associated with the publication of scholarly works that advance knowledge of the humanities.

Humanities Travelling Fellowships – Awarded annually, the Humanities Travelling Fellowships supports early-career researchers with costs of up to $4,000 to undertake research overseas.

You can find more information about each of the grants and awards via this link.

Call for Papers – ‘Archives and Archetypes: Recovery and Renewal’

RMIT School of Media and Communication is proud to announce it is hosting the 14th Australian Media Traditions biennial conference on Thursday 4 and Friday 5 September 2025. The conference will be held in-person at RMIT University’s City Campus, 123 Swanston Street, Melbourne. There will also be a social event at the Capitol Theatre on the evening of Wednesday 3 September.

We are calling for paper and panel proposals that speak to the theme ‘Archives and Archetypes: Recovery and Renewal’. Please send paper abstracts and panel proposals to ausmediatraditions2025@gmail.com by Monday 31 March. You can find more details about the CFP and the conference here.

The Pacific History Association Teresia Teaiwa Prize 2025

The Pacific History Association (PHA) established the Teresia Teaiwa Prize in 2018 to honour the profound legacy of Teresia Teaiwa, former President and Secretary of PHA. The inaugural prize was awarded at the PHA’s 2021 conference. The 2025 winner will be decided and announced at the PHA’s biennial conference to be held on 2-5 December 2025 at the National University of Samoa. The prize is for a conference presentation. Finalists will be shortlisted on the basis of an essay submitted prior to the conference. The 2025 winner will receive a prize of $1000. You can find further information and eligibility requirements here.

Gunson Essay Prize

A prize of AUD $1,000 will be awarded at the 2025 Pacific History Association Conference, for the winner of the Gunson Essay Prize Competition. Postgraduate or senior students from any country are invited to submit an essay in English between 5,000 and 8,000 words on any topic relating to the pasts of the Island Pacific and its peoples by 1 November 2025. For further details and eligibility requirements see this link.

Laura Bassi Scholarship

The Laura Bassi Scholarship was established in 2018 with the aim of providing editorial assistance to postgraduates and junior academics whose research focuses on neglected topics of study, broadly construed. The scholarships are open to every discipline and the next round of funding will be awarded in Spring 2025. The application deadline is 31 March 2025 and results will be communicated by 11 April 2025.

All currently enrolled master’s and doctoral candidates are eligible to apply, as are academics in the first five years of full-time employment. Applicants are required to submit a completed application form along with their CV through the application portal by the relevant deadline. Further details, including previous winners, and the application portal can be found at here.

ADI Policy Briefing Paper

As you might be aware, ADI and CRIS have developed the ADI Policy Briefing Paper series which draws on the expertise of the Institute to examine important issues facing Australia today. The purpose of each paper is to inform public debate and policy discussion, and to set out practical proposals that will contribute solutions to complex issues.

The Policy Briefing Papers Series is part of ADI’s approach for engage and taking our excellent research into our communities. This will help us contribute to and influence public policy debates related to our research areas or, indeed, humanities and social science research more broadly.

There is a template for you to use. For more information please email Mark Duckworth and Ciara Barker.

PHA Early Career Researchers’ Month Webinar Series

The Pacific History Association will be holding its first “Early Career Researchers’ Month Webinar Series” in 2025. Conceived as both a platform for early career researchers whose works relate to the Pacific area and as preparation towards the association’s biennial conference, the event will take place as a series of 4 one-hour sessions held over Zoom, each one welcoming two speakers, on Thursdays 3-10-17-24 April 2025 from approx. 9 to 10 am NZST (tbc). Each speaker will have an allocated time of 15-20 minutes for their paper presentation and 10-15 minutes for questions and discussion (total 30 minutes each).

This series does not have a particular theme set, so please feel free to submit a paper proposal to the coordinators on any topic relating to the pasts of the Pacific, its islands and its peoples by 10 February 2025. Any paper proposal relating to the 2025 conference theme “Le Solosolo’ū : Resilience in the Face of Adversity” are also most welcome.

We welcome proposals from HDR students (Master’s and PhD) and recent PhD graduates in the wider humanities : history, art history, anthropology, ethnography, law, literature, philosophy, political science, international relations, as well as from contributors from the heritage and museums sectors. You can find more information here.

2025 OER Grant Program

Do you have ideas for innovative resources for use in teaching? Have your students had issues with accessing texts or provided suggestions for content? What support would you need to develop your ideal resource? Would it be useful to others in higher education landscape for use in their teaching?

Applications are now open for the 2025 Open Educational Resources (OER) Grant Program. As part of the Open Education 2025 Higher Education Participation and Partnerships Program (HEPPP), the OER Grants will support staff in using and developing OER in their teaching, learning and assessment. Check out this link for more details and applications. Examples of current and past projects can be found here.

CCH Hub Site

We now have a Sharepoint site (for Deakin staff and students only). This is where you can find CCH templates and logos, and importantly – new grant application forms. CCH members should have access, but you will need to use your Deakin login.