The Australian Research Data Commons (ARDC) invites you to participate in a short survey about your
interaction with the ARDC and use of our national research infrastructure and services. The survey will take
approximately 5 minutes and is anonymous. It’s open to anyone who uses our digital research infrastructure
services including Reasearch Link Australia.
We will use the information you provide to improve the national research infrastructure and services we
deliver and to report on user satisfaction to the Australian Government’s National Collaborative Research
Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS) program.
Please take a few minutes to provide your input. The survey closes COB Friday 29 May 2026.
Complete the 5 min survey now by clicking on the link below.
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
Gender and sexual politics: Changing citizenship in Australia since 1969. This project aims to study the effects and legacies of the feminist and sexual revolutions for citizenship in Australia. Australians have increasingly claimed rights and protections in the intimate languages of sexual and gendered identities. This has reorganised public culture in confounding ways and led to debates about intimate life and identity crowd politics. This project will investigate the relationships between the ....Gender and sexual politics: Changing citizenship in Australia since 1969. This project aims to study the effects and legacies of the feminist and sexual revolutions for citizenship in Australia. Australians have increasingly claimed rights and protections in the intimate languages of sexual and gendered identities. This has reorganised public culture in confounding ways and led to debates about intimate life and identity crowd politics. This project will investigate the relationships between these diverse identities, and provide a critical genealogy of how these claims have opened up and challenged Australian citizenship since 1969. The project hopes to benefit policy makers and stakeholders with a new understanding and framework to navigate this complex landscape.Read moreRead less
Antipodean Geology: A Modern History of Southern Hemisphere Earth. This project aims to produce a modern history of the ancient mega-continent Gondwanaland. An international team intends to reorient the history of geosciences towards the southern hemisphere by investigating geologists working in Australasia, South Asia, South America, Southern Africa and Antarctica since 1788. This includes analysis of how Gondwana fossils came to fuel the industrial age. The team also aims to explain how, why a ....Antipodean Geology: A Modern History of Southern Hemisphere Earth. This project aims to produce a modern history of the ancient mega-continent Gondwanaland. An international team intends to reorient the history of geosciences towards the southern hemisphere by investigating geologists working in Australasia, South Asia, South America, Southern Africa and Antarctica since 1788. This includes analysis of how Gondwana fossils came to fuel the industrial age. The team also aims to explain how, why and with what effect the term 'Gondwana' has retained such strong cultural purchase, well beyond the geological domain. This should productively recast ideas of a global south and improve understanding of what ‘Gondwana’, and deep geological time, mean for societies across the southern hemisphere. Read moreRead less
Care Leaver Activism & Advocacy: From Deficit Models To Survivor Narratives. This project aims to create the first history of survivor-activism that challenged and exposed failings in Australian child welfare systems. It intends to reveal how Care Leavers (people institutionalised as children—500,000+ Australians in the 20th century alone) advocated for government inquiries and reforms, and how stigma ascribed to them impacted their disparate experiences of citizenship. Expected outcomes include ....Care Leaver Activism & Advocacy: From Deficit Models To Survivor Narratives. This project aims to create the first history of survivor-activism that challenged and exposed failings in Australian child welfare systems. It intends to reveal how Care Leavers (people institutionalised as children—500,000+ Australians in the 20th century alone) advocated for government inquiries and reforms, and how stigma ascribed to them impacted their disparate experiences of citizenship. Expected outcomes include an innovative survivor-led participatory research model for ethical research with marginalised groups, and an interactive website presenting new narratives of out-of-home care. The project seeks to benefit Care Leavers by highlighting their resilience, and in the process inform service provisions to support their wellbeing.Read moreRead less
Envisaging Citizenship: Australian Histories and Global Connections. This project aims to investigate the ways that visual images have defined, contested and advanced ideas of Australian citizenship and rights from European settlement to the present. Responding to the lack of a shared mainstream understanding of Australian citizenship, it looks beyond legal definitions to explore cultural and especially visual views of citizenship over time. Through collaboration with museum, media and education ....Envisaging Citizenship: Australian Histories and Global Connections. This project aims to investigate the ways that visual images have defined, contested and advanced ideas of Australian citizenship and rights from European settlement to the present. Responding to the lack of a shared mainstream understanding of Australian citizenship, it looks beyond legal definitions to explore cultural and especially visual views of citizenship over time. Through collaboration with museum, media and education sectors, it will provide a forward-looking and accessible public history, and utilise the potential of images to broaden contemporary debates about citizenship. Expected outcomes include a better public understanding of the pathways to citizenship, and enhanced engagement with Australian values and identity.Read moreRead less
Water and the making of urban Australia since 1900. This project aims to produce new understandings of both the historical drivers of today’s urban water systems, and how these systems have impacted on human and ecological welfare. This will be achieved through the first integrated and comparative historical study of the provision, use and cultures of water in Australia’s five largest cities from 1900 to the present. Such historical knowledge is critical at a time when the water systems of Austr ....Water and the making of urban Australia since 1900. This project aims to produce new understandings of both the historical drivers of today’s urban water systems, and how these systems have impacted on human and ecological welfare. This will be achieved through the first integrated and comparative historical study of the provision, use and cultures of water in Australia’s five largest cities from 1900 to the present. Such historical knowledge is critical at a time when the water systems of Australia’s largest cities are under growing pressure from environmental change and population growth. Project findings will inform the development of policies and practices that produce sustainable, equitable urban water systems.Read moreRead less
Monarchy, democracy and empire: German imperial policy before 1914. This project aims to improve knowledge of the history of constitutional monarchy as a political form outside of Britain. It asks who drove Germany's global imperialist foreign policy prior to World War One and how they did so. By studying the contest for power between the German monarch and other arms of the state and society, the project will establish the effects of political change on the German Empire. Laying bare the tensio ....Monarchy, democracy and empire: German imperial policy before 1914. This project aims to improve knowledge of the history of constitutional monarchy as a political form outside of Britain. It asks who drove Germany's global imperialist foreign policy prior to World War One and how they did so. By studying the contest for power between the German monarch and other arms of the state and society, the project will establish the effects of political change on the German Empire. Laying bare the tension between the royal prerogative and the constitutional state prior to 1914, this project explains how the struggle between the principles of monarchy and democracy was reflected in the history of Europe's imperial rivalries.Read moreRead less
Transgender Australians: the history of an identity. This project aims to trace the emergence of transgender identities in Australia since the early twentieth century. Using oral histories, archives and media, the project intends to analyse shifting medical, legal, cultural and popular discourses about transgenderism, as well as study how evolving societal attitudes have affected the lives of gender diverse people. By revealing transgender people’s histories, the project will explore the ways ge ....Transgender Australians: the history of an identity. This project aims to trace the emergence of transgender identities in Australia since the early twentieth century. Using oral histories, archives and media, the project intends to analyse shifting medical, legal, cultural and popular discourses about transgenderism, as well as study how evolving societal attitudes have affected the lives of gender diverse people. By revealing transgender people’s histories, the project will explore the ways gender diverse Australians have expressed their identities amidst changing social norms. The expected outcomes will inform current debates about transgender rights, healthcare provision and social inclusion.Read moreRead less
Beyond Empire: Transnational religious networks and liberal cosmopolitanisms. This project aims to study religion as a dimension of international affairs between 1860 and 1950. It will examine the contribution of faith-based activity, networking and thought to global governance and peace building institutionalised in the United Nations, universal human rights and humanitarianism that shaped the second half of the twentieth century. The project will explore the emergence of these faith-based cosm ....Beyond Empire: Transnational religious networks and liberal cosmopolitanisms. This project aims to study religion as a dimension of international affairs between 1860 and 1950. It will examine the contribution of faith-based activity, networking and thought to global governance and peace building institutionalised in the United Nations, universal human rights and humanitarianism that shaped the second half of the twentieth century. The project will explore the emergence of these faith-based cosmopolitanisms at the interstices of multi-faith, multi-cultural and multi-racial webs of connection and their significance for Australian, regional and global history. This could show how secular and inter-faith activisms can produce cosmopolitan visions of practical co-existence.Read moreRead less
Precarious accounts: money, sex and power in the industrial revolution. This project aims to provide a historical perspective on contemporary debates around the uses of self-tracking technologies. The project expects to generate new knowledge on how practices for quantifying the self relate to significant social and economic change, from the industrial revolution, through to measuring the systems of big data that now shapes the world. It does so using a case study of Gilbert Innes, a banker know ....Precarious accounts: money, sex and power in the industrial revolution. This project aims to provide a historical perspective on contemporary debates around the uses of self-tracking technologies. The project expects to generate new knowledge on how practices for quantifying the self relate to significant social and economic change, from the industrial revolution, through to measuring the systems of big data that now shapes the world. It does so using a case study of Gilbert Innes, a banker known for his sexual exploitation of women and obsessive book-keeping. The expected outcome is a history of how accounting shaped identity and morality in the nineteenth century. Through improving our understanding of how quantification practices shape society, this research supports their effective use today.Read moreRead less