Newsroom

The Australian Academy of the Humanities congratulates three Fellows acknowledged in the 2025 King’s Birthday Honours: writer and broadcaster Phillip Adams AC FAHA FRSA, Nobel Prize laureate Professor John (J.M.) Coetzee AC FAHA and linguistic and religious scholar Emeritus Professor Anthony Johns AM FAHA.

Imagining 2085 asks leading experts to imagine a world 60 years in the future — how will we live, who will we be, and most importantly: how will the choices today shape our tomorrow? Historian of science and environmental ideas, Emeritus Professor Libby Robin FAHA examines what we can do in the face of overwhelming anxieties about climate change.

The task of portraying whole Indigenous lives in all their subtlety and complexity—lives often captured only in fragments by unsympathetic sources—presents a huge philosophical and methodological challenge to the craft of biography. In their new book, co-editors Associate Professor Shino Konishi FAHA, Dr Malcolm Allbrook, and Emeritus Professor Tom Griffiths AO FAHA consider the diverse ways researchers are repurposing historical narratives to reframe approaches to Indigenous biography.

From World Cup glory to controversies on and off the pitch, football’s global influence transcends sport while grappling with lasting issues of gender, race, and exploitation. Emeritus Professor David Rowe FAHA FASSA examines how “World Football Day” encapsulates both the beautiful game’s extraordinary power to unite and its complex relationship with capitalism and inequality.

Interest in the papal conclave has had a renaissance in the news cycle, from Hollywood movies to the election of Leo XIV. In this week’s Five Minute Friday, Frances Muecke FAHA draws on her work in translating medieval texts to share the stranger-than-fiction story of the papal conclave of 1458.

Soviet spacecraft Kosmos 482, once destined for Venus, crashed back to Earth on Saturday 10 May 2025 after over 50 years stuck in Earth’s orbit. Space archaeologist Associate Professor Alice Gorman FAHA reflects on the cultural ripples of the USSR’s missions to Venus — and why the planet, revered by ancient societies, still inspires speculation to this day.

How does a small museum innovate and present its collection in new and exciting ways? This International Museum Day (18 May) Dr Georgia Pike-Rowney, curator of the ANU Classics Museum, discusses the challenges of the shadowy world of the illicit antiquities trade, and how interdisciplinary and contemporary research is transforming museum collections, in an interview with AAH’s intern, Zoe Vaughan, ANU Masters of Museum and Heritage Studies student.

Agatha Christine. Arthur Conan Doyle. Jane Harper. Richard Osman. All beloved crime fiction authors with legions of fans. More than a popular and engaging read, Associate Professor Stewart King FAHA shows how crime fiction invites the reader to ponder questions about inequality, crime, and justice well after the final page.

Liberal democracies across the world are reporting declining levels of trust in governments, businesses and the media. Professor Terry Flew FAHA, Co-director of the Centre for AI, Trust and Governance at the University of Sydney, examines what this growing mistrust might mean for Australia.

As we approach Anzac Day, historian Professor Peter Stanley FAHA, who was Principal Historian of the Australian War Memorial for 27 years, reminds us that the modern commemoration of Anzac Day is a recent construct undergoing inevitable change.