Andrekos Varnava

Biography

Professor Andrekos Varnava, FAHA, FRHistS, FRSA, is a Professor of Imperial History at Flinders University, where he has worked since 2009, after a short period working at the European University, Cyprus. He is a historian of the British empire, primarily in the eastern Mediterranean, a historian of Cyprus, and a historian of migration to and from the UK, Australia and Cyprus. He has published on themes ranging from imperial strategy, colonial development, nationalism and ethnic politics, the far-right and far-left, public health and popular culture as well as on other subjects, primarily covering the period from the 1820s to the 1970s. He is the current Editor-in-Chief of The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, published by Taylor & Francis.

Professor Varnava has a prolific publications record. He has authored four monographs: Assassination in Colonial Cyprus in 1934 and the Origins of EOKA (Anthem, 2021; Greek translation, Psifides, 2024); British Cyprus and the Long Great War, 1914-1925: Empire, Loyalties and Democratic Deficit (Routledge, 2020); Serving the Empire in the Great War: The Cypriot Mule Corps, Imperial Loyalty and Silenced Memory (Man Uni Press, 2017) and British Imperialism in Cyprus, 1878-1915: The Inconsequential Possession (Man Uni Press, 2009). He has edited/co-edited 16 collections (volumes & journal special issues). Most recently he has edited/co-edited the following volumes: Forced Migration: Exiles and Refugees in the UK and the British Empire, 1815-1949 (Brill, 2025); Popular Culture and its Relationship to Conflict in the UK and Australia since the Great War (Routledge, 2023); New Perspectives on the Greek War of Independence: Myths, Realities, Legacies and Reflections (Palgrave, 2022); and Exiting War: The British Empire and the 1918-20 Moment (Man Uni Press, 2022). He has co-edited special issues of Immigrants & Minorities, 40(1-2), 2022, Australian Historical Studies, 52(1), 2021, Contemporary British History, 33(4), 2019 and Itinerario, 38(3), 2014. He has published over 70 papers (articles & chapters) including in English Historical Review (2017), The Historical Journal (2014), Journal of Modern History (2018), Historical Research (2014, 2017, 2022), Social History of Medicine (2020, 2025), International History Review (2021), Immigrants & Minorities (2022, 2025), Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History (2023), Labor History (2023), Australian Historical Studies (2024), European Review of History (2024), Journal of Interdisciplinary History (2024) and Enterprise & Society (2025). In 2025 he received the Royal Geographical Society of SA G. W. Symes Award with Dr Yianni Cartledge for the article “Making and Monitoring a ‘Suspect Community’: Australian Attacks on Greeks and the ‘Secret Census’ in 1916”. He has also been the recipient of several ARC grants.