Newsletter – 27 July 2026

29 July, 11am	Nat Cutter	Britain and the Ottoman Maghreb, 1662-1712: Merchants, Consuls, and Cultural Exchange in an Age of Corsairing and Captivity
5 August, 11am	Geraldine Fela	Blood Politics: Nurses and Australia’s AIDS crisis
19 August, 11am	Mia Martin Hobbs and Eliza De Burgh	Resistance and refusal in women veterans’ memories of misogyny, violence, and discrimination in Western militaries in the War on Terror

CCH Research Projects and Support

These are some of the exciting projects currently funded by the Centre. The CCH Executive encourages members to seek support for their research plans, using the application forms included below.

Lead CI	Project Title	Project Summary
Rebecca Cairns	Initiating a National Cross-Sector Conversation on History Education	This project responds to widespread concerns about the future of history education in Australia. These include its perceived value, declining student enrolments, workforce issues, and the capacity of history to remain a vital and dynamic discipline across all sectors of education as we head towards the mid-21st century. These conversations, however, tend to take place within siloed spaces among disparate stakeholder groups. Unlike other like nations that invest in understanding the state of history education nationally (e.g. Royal Historical Society and British Academy in the UK) and transnationally (e.g. the Observatory on History Teaching in Europe), Australia lacks a strategic vision.
Mia Martin Hobbs	Trauma and the Humanities – Thinker in Residence	This project aims to both create a safe community for humanities scholars working on traumatic stories and new scholarly knowledge about how traumatic content affects researchers and how the impacts of traumatic work can be alleviated through community.
Mia Martin Hobbs	Potted Policy Histories	This project aims to create research infrastructure that would help to connect present-day policymaking to historical thinking.
Jonathan Ritchie	Workshop: Cultures of Death and the Future of the CWCG Cemeteries in PNG	This workshop forms an important stage in the continuing and further development of an ARC Discovery Project (DP270100675), ‘Precarious Legacies: Strengthening co-commemoration at Australia’s Pacific War Cemeteries’. The overall project will explore the past , present, and future of Australia’s war cemeteries in Papua New Guinea, which are the foremost collective sites for intergenerational remembrance of heroism and sacrifice in the South West Pacific.
Lorinda Cramer	Refashioning Dame Nellie Melba	This project explores the collection of Dame Nellie Melba, held by Coombe Cottage in Coldstream, for its capacity to tell new stories about its celebrated owner, her life and her clothing. It tests the insights that emerge through a discrete collection with a single owner/wearer for the larger project ‘Reworn and reborn: Revealing clothing circularity in museum collections for sustainable fashion futures’. It aims to further build a collaborative research and publication track record for the ‘Reworn and reborn: Revealing clothing circularity in museum collections for sustainable fashion futures’ project with the Yarra Ranges Regional Museum.
Tiffany Shellam	Mobile collections: Menang Country in the World	This project tests the ANU-based Return, Reconcile, Renew database with Menang collections data gathered from Deakin-led Entangled Knowledges project. It aims to develop a network of researchers and collaborators nationally and internationally for a large program-grant of research led by Deakin with key industry stakeholders (National Museums Scotland, Pigorini Museum in Italy, Naturkunde Museum in Berlin). The project will sign MoU with ANU regarding program of future research network.
Danielle Chubb	Understanding Gendered Perceptions of National Security	This project forms the first stage of a broader research program examining gender, public opinion and national security in Australia. It directly follows recent National Security College survey findings that identified significant gender differences in self-reported national security knowledge, threat perceptions and engagement with national security issues. By investigating the drivers of these differences, the project will generate novel data and provide a foundation for future research on gendered understandings of national security.

We now have the forms available to faculty members applying to CCH for research support, for both Collaborative Projects (Scaling Up Grants) and Engagement and Impact Initiatives (Research in Practice). Please bookmark the links, included here:

Scaling Up Grant

Research in Practice

The Executive looks forward to receiving your applications ASAP, and on a rolling basis.

Events

CCH Shut Up and Write
Every Monday, 9am–12pm, on Zoom.

Start the week strong with a Shut Up and Write! We run 3 x 50 minute blocks of writing/focus, with breaks in between to chat and grab coffee. All CCH colleagues welcome, especially ECRs, HDRs, and those who work remotely. Feel free to join any time. The Zoom link is here (Meeting ID: 879 3895 9029, Password: 97747034). If you would like a recurring invite in your calendar, or you have any trouble joining, email Mia at mia.martinhobbs@deakin.edu.au

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Conference – ‘Imperialism and Resistance: Australia’s First Wars’
Date: 17–18 September 2026
Location: Australian War Memorial Theatre, Canberra

From the colonial frontiers of Australia to the South African veldt, Australia’s first wars were fought across the expanses of the British Empire.

‘Imperialism and Resistance: Australia’s First Wars’ is a two-day conference that brings together authors, historians, and curators to reflect on the Australian Frontier Wars and Australia’s earliest overseas military commitments to the British Empire.

Speakers will explore Australia’s nineteenth-century military history, with presentations on the Frontier Wars, the mid-century New Zealand Wars, and colonial deployments to Sudan, China, and the South African (Boer) War.

See here, for details on the conference programme and registration!

Calls for Papers

Special Issue of Studies in Oral History

Contributors are invited to submit articles for peer review for the 2027 issue of Studies in Oral History, the journal of Oral History Australia (OHA). The issue, co-edited by CCH members Mia Martin Hobbs and Geraldine Fela, takes as its theme ‘Human Voices in a Changing World’.

Contributions are invited across the following themes (but are not limited to these):

• Experiences of social, cultural, political, economic, climate and technological change
• Methods and ethics of integrating new technologies (e.g. Artificial Intelligence) into oral history practice
• Authenticity and artifice in the oral history interview
• How our current changing world changes how we think about the past

To be considered for peer review, articles should be no more than 8,000 words, including references. Publication of the issue is anticipated in late 2027. The submission deadline for articles for peer review is 3 December 2026.

Find out more here!

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Conference – Australian Queer Histories

The Australian Queer Archives is calling for proposals for presentations at our history conference to be held at the Victorian Pride Centre in Melbourne, 7–8 November 2026.

Organisers are open to proposals relating to any aspect of Australian LGBTIQ+ histories from academics, emerging scholars, community historians and creative practitioners involved with Australian queer history. These may be in the form of papers, panels, posters or other non-traditional formats.

Proposals should be no more than 150 words. They should be sent to conference@queerarchives.org.au by 20 August, 2026.

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Symposium – Australian Democracy and Disinformation in 2026
Date: 23–24 September 2026
Location: Deakin Downtown

Australian elections are contested in more languages, on more platforms, and across more
communities than ever before. The future of disinformation will be diverse, and its management will need to be inclusive.

The RECapture Research Lab is issuing this call for presentations at a two-day symposium held at Deakin Downtown across the 23rd and 24th of September 2026, in advance of the Victorian state election in November. The symposium connects practitioners with researchers to form impactful pathways for current and future work. Day 1 will include presentations from government and NGO sector experts who have interest or responsibility regarding election processes in Australia. Day 2 will include academic research presentations on disinformation through an empirical lens. Individual academic submissions should include an abstract of 150–250 words. Panel proposals will be considered, with a 150-word summary of the panel theme and a 100-word abstract for each individual presentation. Panels should ideally represent a variety of career stages, and cultural or institutional backgrounds across the presenters.

Priority topic areas include, but are not limited to, the below:

• Empirical studies of disinformation campaigns or disinformation resistance campaigns
• Methods for studying disinformation
• Regulatory and civic innovations
• Techniques for disinformation intervention, before or during a disinformation event

Abstracts (150-250 words) and short bio (50 words) are to be sent to: yang.f@unimelb.edu.au. This CFP will close on 31 July.

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Conference – ‘The Greater Second World War and Modern Global Geopolitics’
Date: 8–9 February 2027
Location: UNSW Canberra City, Canberra

In 2025, the world marked the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, but for millions across the Asia-Pacific, Allied victory in 1945 did not bring peace. Numerous wars ravaged the region in the years that followed, decolonisation created dozens of new states, and millions of people died, migrated, or were otherwise displaced by conflict. The longer-term effects of the conflict have shaped, and continue to influence, the development of nations, their relationships, and the societal, environmental, and geopolitical challenges the region faces today. In this context, there has been much renewed discussion about reconciliation (or the lack thereof), reconstruction, and the preciousness of long-term peace, both in the Asia-Pacific and globally.

In recognising the continued influence of the Second World War on the Asia-Pacific today, the War Studies Research Group (UNSW Canberra) and the Second World War Research Group (King’s College London) will be hosting an international conference that addresses the aftermath of the war, and its longer-term impacts on the region. The conference seeks to act as a nexus through which to bring together researchers from across the Asia-Pacific and beyond, to bridge international and scholarly boundaries, and foster connections beyond the conference.

Submissions due 2 August 2026. Find out more here!

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Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History – Current Debates

In January 2025 The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History launched a section devoted to opinion and commentary. Here we publish shorter pieces (1–4,000 words) on topical issues or debates broadly construed within the field of the British Empire and Commonwealth, or imperialism and colonialism more generally. In order to address current affairs in a timely manner and to retain the integrity of the opinion piece essays/discussion, pieces published in this Current Debates section are not subject to peer-review.

The framing and argument are entirely up to authors although the editors are very happy to consider essays investigating themes such as: the dismantling of settler-state structures; truth, justice, and redress; global power hierarchies; current inter-imperialist rivalries; climate change and colonial legacies; past and present migration and colonialism. There are no set deadlines and pieces are usually published online within two-three weeks upon receipt.

If you have any questions, or are interested in pitching an idea, then please get in touch with Current Debates Editor Jonas Fossli Gjersø – jonas.f.gjerso@uis.no. Alternatively, find out more here!

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Australian Historical Association’s Guardian Column

CCH members may be interested in the opportunity to propose their work for inclusion in The Guardian’s ‘Past/Present’ column. Written by AHA members, the column aims to provide a historical perspective on recent events, showcase the important work that historians in Australia do, and demonstrate the value of history and historical thinking to a wide audience.

If you’d like to contribute to “Past/Present”, please send a short pitch to the Executive Officer of the AHA, following the pitch guidelines outlined here.

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SHAFR in the Asia Pacific Network

The Society of Historians of American Foreign Relations has established a network for historians in the Asia Pacific. The network will run small workshops with SHAFR scholars to develop works-in-progress, online seminars, and provide networking opportunities.

If your research explores any aspect of American foreign policy and you are interested in joining, visit the SHAFR website for further information. Or, reach out to our own Mia Martin Hobbs with questions!