PUBLICATION NEWS
CHRG member, Klaus Neumann, authored ‘Anatomy of a broken taboo’, and examined how an election in a tiny East German state has reverberated all the way to the top of the country’s politics for Inside Story. You can catch up on this short read here> https://insidestory.org.au/anatomy-of-a-broken-taboo/
EVENT NEWS
Australian Policy and History director, Carolyn Holbrook, was invited to participate in an international panel about history and policy at the recent American Historical Association conference in New York, with Dane Kennedy from the National History Center<http://www.nationalhistorycenter.org/> and Charles Kraus from the Wilson Center<https://www.wilsoncenter.org/> in Washington DC and Andrew Blick from History and Policy<http://www.historyandpolicy.org/> in London.
The panel discussed the increasing appetite for historical perspectives on major international issues such as climate change and declining trust in democracy. It also discussed the challenges of communicating historians’ work to policy makers and measuring their impact on public policy.
An extract from Carolyn’s presentation on 4 January 2020 is available here> https://aph.org.au/2020/02/aph-in-nyc/
ECR OPPORTUNITY!
We are delighted to announce the Contemporary Histories Research Group Award in Policy in History!
Designed to support Early Career Researchers recipients will receive:
$10,000 to fund archival research and other expenses, paid in instalments**
Mentoring by senior Deakin historians in the preparation of publications and access to institutional and staff support for DECRA/Alfred Deakin Post-Doctoral Fellowship applications
Use of Deakin library resources
Attendance with flight and accommodation expenses covered at the 2020 Australian Policy and History conference in Canberra
Recipients must produce:
A journal article relating to their research for submission to a highly ranked Australian or international journal with Deakin University affiliation on byline
An 800-word opinion piece for publication on the Australian Policy and History website
A presentation at the 2020 Australian Policy and History conference in Canberra
Applications are due on Thursday 12 March 2020 and must include:
A 1000-word project description, including detail of:
how the research will be undertaken (sources, archives, budget etc.)
how the research will inform an important issue of Australian public policy
CV
Supporting letter from PhD supervisor or senior academic
The awards commence on 14 April 2020 and conclude on 18 December 2020.
Email application documents to Dr Carolyn Holbrook by 11.59pm on Thursday 12 March 2020, carolyn.holbrook@deakin.edu.au
Selection Criteria
Project Quality 30%
Has the candidate outlined a coherent and rigorous project, with a well-defined research question and knowledge of historiography and principal themes?
Candidate 30%
Track record of the candidate as gauged by publication record and other factors including public engagement.
Feasibility 20%
Demonstrated timeline and budget for achievement of the project.
Benefit and Collaboration 20%
How does this research inform a pressing issue of public policy? What connections can the candidate demonstrate with relevant external stakeholders, e.g. public service?
* Early career researchers are defined as per ARC rules. They must have an award of PhD date on, or after 1 March 2017, or have an award of PhD date together with an allowable period of career interruptions that would be commensurate with an award of PhD date on, or after 1 March 2017. The allowable career interruptions set out and the period allowed for each are in Table 9 of the Grant Guidelines for the ARC Discovery Program (2019 edition).
° The awards are open only to ECRs without continuing positions.
**The award will be paid in instalments subject to the conditions of the award agreement. Applicants will be responsible for any tax liability which may arise from award of the grant. Recipients who are not employees of Deakin University must have an ABN in order to invoice Deakin University.
Further details are available at> https://aph.org.au/2020/02/chrg-award-in-history-and-policy/
2020 SEMINAR SERIES
Time/ Date: Wednesday 18 March 2020; 11 am to 12 pm.
Locations: Burwood Mtg Room C7.06; Geelong ic2.108; VMP ARTSED 2 36917.
Title: “The Weight of the Dead on the Living”: Identifying Fallen Soldiers 1914-18
Presenter: Sarah Ashbridge, University of Huddersfield
Abstract: This paper explores the development and introduction of British and Australian soldiers’ identity discs and their problematic use during the First World War.
With problems in the durability of discs and despite the introduction of the double identity disc in 1916, the number of unidentified bodies increased exponentially as the war progressed. The inability to confirm the fate and location of so many men would reshape civilian cultures of grief and mourning, as national loss took priority over personal loss. The public needed answers. More specifically, the living needed answers.
This paper will utilise archival reports, the letters of soldiers and items of material culture to explore the ‘weight of the dead on the living’ as a result of the failures of British identity discs used during the First World War. It will conclude with a number of archaeological case studies to demonstrate the difficulties with the identification of fallen soldiers in the field today, making recommendations for the improved recording of personal effects in order to assist future investigations to establish identity.
Sarah Ashbridge is a PhD student in the History Department at the University of Huddersfield, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) Heritage Consortium. She is co-supervised in the School of Archaeological and Forensic Sciences at the University of Bradford, from which university she received her MSc Forensic Archaeology and Crime Scene Investigation. Utilising an interdisciplinary methodology, Sarah’s doctoral research takes an anthropological approach to the history of British identity discs, also used by Australian soldiers during the First World War, situating their development within the broader history of the use identifying marks for the purpose of identifying fallen soldiers. Sarah is visiting Australia to work with Dianne Rutherford at the Australian War Memorial, completing investigative work to confirm or disprove the presence of asbestos in British and Australian identity discs, making recommendations for the storage and handling of identity discs in museums and archives today.