The meritocratic moment in West Germany, Singapore, and Japan. This project aims to investigate the history of meritocratic ideas in West Germany, Singapore and Japan. The project will generate new knowledge on the ways in which democratic societies built political legitimacy after World War II by analysing the history of education reforms. Expected outcomes include a deeper understanding of the historical conditions which promote social cohesion in modern societies. This project should provide ....The meritocratic moment in West Germany, Singapore, and Japan. This project aims to investigate the history of meritocratic ideas in West Germany, Singapore and Japan. The project will generate new knowledge on the ways in which democratic societies built political legitimacy after World War II by analysing the history of education reforms. Expected outcomes include a deeper understanding of the historical conditions which promote social cohesion in modern societies. This project should provide significant benefits by fostering social and educational policy-making which enhances the political legitimacy and stability of parliamentarian democracies in Australia and around the world.Read moreRead less
Document loss in pre-modern Europe. This project aims to map out the social and cultural effects of paper’s introduction to Europe from 1200-1800. After centuries of writing on parchment, Europeans began to use paper in the late Middle Ages. Paper proved both a gift and a curse to Europeans. Important documents could easily be destroyed or lost. This project will investigate loss as a cultural problem in history. It will trace both unintentional losses (fires, rot, vermin) and intentional ones ( ....Document loss in pre-modern Europe. This project aims to map out the social and cultural effects of paper’s introduction to Europe from 1200-1800. After centuries of writing on parchment, Europeans began to use paper in the late Middle Ages. Paper proved both a gift and a curse to Europeans. Important documents could easily be destroyed or lost. This project will investigate loss as a cultural problem in history. It will trace both unintentional losses (fires, rot, vermin) and intentional ones (censorship, document suppression, prohibitions). The project expects to uncover how obliteration led to both opened repression and blank-slate reinvention, a powerful form of cultural creativity.Read moreRead less
From Where the Fine Warships Come: Democratic Athens at War . This project aims to transform our understanding of classical Athens. This Greek state is famous for developing democracy to an extremely high level and for being the leading cultural innovator of classical Greece. Less well known is the dark side of this success story. Athens revolutionised warfare, killing tens of thousands of combatants and civilians. There is a good case that democracy itself sustained this military record. But th ....From Where the Fine Warships Come: Democratic Athens at War . This project aims to transform our understanding of classical Athens. This Greek state is famous for developing democracy to an extremely high level and for being the leading cultural innovator of classical Greece. Less well known is the dark side of this success story. Athens revolutionised warfare, killing tens of thousands of combatants and civilians. There is a good case that democracy itself sustained this military record. But this case has hardly ever been studied. By filling this big gap in our knowledge this project will be highly significant. It will massively increase capacities in research training and international collaboration. The benefits will include new ideas for better understanding the wars that democracies wage today. Read moreRead less
Resilient humanitarianism: the League of Red Cross Societies, 1919-1991. This project aims to advance the concept of resilient humanitarianism through a historical investigation of one humanitarian body, the League of Red Cross Societies, from its inception to the end of the Cold War. Global humanitarian crises abound due to ongoing conflict and natural disasters but nation states, bodies such as the United Nations and humanitarian organisations seem incapable of offering lasting solutions to in ....Resilient humanitarianism: the League of Red Cross Societies, 1919-1991. This project aims to advance the concept of resilient humanitarianism through a historical investigation of one humanitarian body, the League of Red Cross Societies, from its inception to the end of the Cold War. Global humanitarian crises abound due to ongoing conflict and natural disasters but nation states, bodies such as the United Nations and humanitarian organisations seem incapable of offering lasting solutions to intractable situations. This project will use rarely accessed archives and an interdisciplinary approach to investigate the evolution of humanitarianism, voluntary action and global civil society during the 20th century. This historical analysis can inform humanitarian policy, debates and practice of the present and future.Read moreRead less
KGB Empire: State Security Archives in the former Eastern Bloc. A generation has passed since the fall of Soviet communism, and yet our knowledge about the functioning of the institution at the heart of that system—the chekist state security apparatus—remains highly fragmentary and incomplete. This project will shed light on its history and ongoing legacy through a comparative study of state security archives across a range of East European countries. The project has a double focus, comprising h ....KGB Empire: State Security Archives in the former Eastern Bloc. A generation has passed since the fall of Soviet communism, and yet our knowledge about the functioning of the institution at the heart of that system—the chekist state security apparatus—remains highly fragmentary and incomplete. This project will shed light on its history and ongoing legacy through a comparative study of state security archives across a range of East European countries. The project has a double focus, comprising historical work in the archives—using archival documents to advance our understanding of how the security apparatus operated during the late socialist period; and historical work on the archives—investigating how these archives are being used and misused in the region today.Read moreRead less
Artisan mobility, innovation and the eighteenth-century Republic of Things. This project aims to examine how movement across borders in eighteenth-century Europe and encounters between artisans from different backgrounds promoted technical innovation in the cities. Mobility to and from Paris suggests that the cosmopolitan city’s society and culture were as important as markets and institutions. The project will study male and female artisans, producers of manufactured goods in the eighteenth cen ....Artisan mobility, innovation and the eighteenth-century Republic of Things. This project aims to examine how movement across borders in eighteenth-century Europe and encounters between artisans from different backgrounds promoted technical innovation in the cities. Mobility to and from Paris suggests that the cosmopolitan city’s society and culture were as important as markets and institutions. The project will study male and female artisans, producers of manufactured goods in the eighteenth century, who played a vital but largely forgotten role in transferring applied knowledge between European centres. This project aims to provide a historical grounding for debates on links between cosmopolitanism, culture, and technical innovation in a globalising world.Read moreRead less
The philosophical foundations of women’s rights: a new history, 1600-1750. This project aims to show that the history of women’s rights is much longer and richer than previously thought. There is a common perception that the notion of women’s rights first emerged in the late eighteenth century. This project expects to generate a new understanding of feminist history by investigating texts calling for the recognition of women’s dignity, worth, nobility, and excellence (cognate concepts to rights) ....The philosophical foundations of women’s rights: a new history, 1600-1750. This project aims to show that the history of women’s rights is much longer and richer than previously thought. There is a common perception that the notion of women’s rights first emerged in the late eighteenth century. This project expects to generate a new understanding of feminist history by investigating texts calling for the recognition of women’s dignity, worth, nobility, and excellence (cognate concepts to rights) in England and Europe from 1600 to 1750, against the backdrop of the rise of Cartesianism. The anticipated outcome is greater awareness of an enduring feminist tradition within the history of philosophy. The expected social benefits include a shift in public thinking about feminist history and women in philosophy.Read moreRead less
A real-time biomechanical study of Neanderthal anterior dentition. This project aims to advance understanding of the evolution of human dentition using an innovative approach that integrates sophisticated 3D digital modelling with engineering tools. Neanderthals are our closest extinct human relatives that inhabited Eurasia from about 230,000 to 28,000 years ago. However, their protruding faces, large noses and big anterior teeth, raise questions about why these people look so different from us. ....A real-time biomechanical study of Neanderthal anterior dentition. This project aims to advance understanding of the evolution of human dentition using an innovative approach that integrates sophisticated 3D digital modelling with engineering tools. Neanderthals are our closest extinct human relatives that inhabited Eurasia from about 230,000 to 28,000 years ago. However, their protruding faces, large noses and big anterior teeth, raise questions about why these people look so different from us. This project aims to fill this gap in human knowledge about our evolutionary history, and to enhance the international visibility of Australian research in palaeoanthropology and dental biomechanics.Read moreRead less
Regency Romanticism: Ireland, Britain and Australia, 1788-1848. This project aims to produce an interdisciplinary and transnational history of Regency culture, focusing on how Regency culture connected Ireland, Britain and Australia. It seeks to explore the relationship between the Regency and Romanticism in ways that advance the innovative approach for which Australian Romantic studies is internationally renowned. Exploring intersections between people, print media, sociable practices, architec ....Regency Romanticism: Ireland, Britain and Australia, 1788-1848. This project aims to produce an interdisciplinary and transnational history of Regency culture, focusing on how Regency culture connected Ireland, Britain and Australia. It seeks to explore the relationship between the Regency and Romanticism in ways that advance the innovative approach for which Australian Romantic studies is internationally renowned. Exploring intersections between people, print media, sociable practices, architecture and visual representations, the project aims to provide a revisionary account of Regency Romanticism as a movement of contradictory energies and innovations, and as an initiatory model of global modernity that anticipates features of the mediatised culture of fashion, sociality and spectatorship of today.Read moreRead less
Ancient Egyptian papyri: unlocking secrets to the history of writing. This project aims to investigate the chemical composition of papyri from ancient Egypt and their inks to identify scribes, date texts, detect forgeries, match fragmentary texts, and illuminate environmental and technological change. Papyrus and carbon-based ink were the primary writing materials in the ancient Mediterranean world from 2600 BCE to 1000 CE, but the uncertain provenance and date caused by clandestine excavation a ....Ancient Egyptian papyri: unlocking secrets to the history of writing. This project aims to investigate the chemical composition of papyri from ancient Egypt and their inks to identify scribes, date texts, detect forgeries, match fragmentary texts, and illuminate environmental and technological change. Papyrus and carbon-based ink were the primary writing materials in the ancient Mediterranean world from 2600 BCE to 1000 CE, but the uncertain provenance and date caused by clandestine excavation and the antiquities trade limits our understanding of them. The non-destructive and inexpensive analysis will provide new understanding of environmental, technological, and socio-cultural change in ancient cultures from Egypt to Rome by providing new insights into writing technology, scribal identity, dating, and authenticity.Read moreRead less