Banning ideas, burning books: the dynamics of censorship in classical antiquity. How to balance the right to free speech and dissent against other legitimate concerns is an issue that is always with us. This project explores neglected literary evidence from antiquity to study responses to controversial ideas in order to enhance the modern debate on the limits of freedom of speech.
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
Revolutionary Voyaging? Science, Politics and Discovery During the French Revolution (1789-1804). Despite the turmoil of the French Revolution, several state-sponsored scientific voyages were sent to various parts of the globe between 1789 and 1804, notably to Australia and the Pacific. This project is the first to examine these expeditions as a collective group. It seeks to determine whether they represented a new form of scientific voyaging, shaped by the radical changes of the time. It will ....Revolutionary Voyaging? Science, Politics and Discovery During the French Revolution (1789-1804). Despite the turmoil of the French Revolution, several state-sponsored scientific voyages were sent to various parts of the globe between 1789 and 1804, notably to Australia and the Pacific. This project is the first to examine these expeditions as a collective group. It seeks to determine whether they represented a new form of scientific voyaging, shaped by the radical changes of the time. It will also highlight the influence these voyages had, in return, on French debates regarding the nature of Man and human societies, our relationship with the natural world, and French understandings of Australia’s place in the world.Read moreRead less
Toward a Female Stoic Tradition: Women's Writings in England, 1600-1800. This project aims to investigate the neglected history of women’s engagement with Stoic ideas in early modern England. It expects to generate new knowledge of a distinctive strand of women’s Stoic thought by taking a novel interdisciplinary approach to different genres of early modern writing. The intended outcomes include a new understanding of women’s valuable contributions to philosophy, literature, and politics in the p ....Toward a Female Stoic Tradition: Women's Writings in England, 1600-1800. This project aims to investigate the neglected history of women’s engagement with Stoic ideas in early modern England. It expects to generate new knowledge of a distinctive strand of women’s Stoic thought by taking a novel interdisciplinary approach to different genres of early modern writing. The intended outcomes include a new understanding of women’s valuable contributions to philosophy, literature, and politics in the period, as well as a greater appreciation of the gender-inclusivity of Stoic philosophy. This should provide significant benefits, such as the development of Stoic therapeutic techniques informed by women’s experiences, and the promotion of gender equality through the recognition of women’s intellectual history.Read moreRead less
The Italian wars, 1494–1559. This project aims to re-evaluate the Italian Wars, a conflict fought between 1494 and 1559 mainly on the Italian peninsula but which reshaped the political map of early modern Europe. The project will investigate newly identified textual and material source to produce a big-event history. Its findings will have significant impact both scholarly and general communities, from identifying new textual and material sources for historical study to potential ramifications f ....The Italian wars, 1494–1559. This project aims to re-evaluate the Italian Wars, a conflict fought between 1494 and 1559 mainly on the Italian peninsula but which reshaped the political map of early modern Europe. The project will investigate newly identified textual and material source to produce a big-event history. Its findings will have significant impact both scholarly and general communities, from identifying new textual and material sources for historical study to potential ramifications for historical warfare interpretation in television, radio and gaming environments.Read moreRead less
Managing migrants and border control in Britain and Australia, 1901-1981. This project aims to historicise the creation and control of ‘suspect’ migrant communities and the restrictions on the further immigration of members of these groups by the British and Australian authorities from 1900-81. The project aims to scrutinise the creation of 'suspect communities' and the policies of surveillance, community control and restricted entry. The expected outcome is to show that such policies and practi ....Managing migrants and border control in Britain and Australia, 1901-1981. This project aims to historicise the creation and control of ‘suspect’ migrant communities and the restrictions on the further immigration of members of these groups by the British and Australian authorities from 1900-81. The project aims to scrutinise the creation of 'suspect communities' and the policies of surveillance, community control and restricted entry. The expected outcome is to show that such policies and practices did not prevent Britain and Australia from becoming multicultural societies by the 1970s. This will provide a greater understanding of how Britain and Australia’s border control systems have evolved since 1900 and how past historical policies relate to contemporary practices.Read moreRead less
A powerful new genetic view of the recent evolutionary history of humans and their diseases. Bacteria on teeth cause dental disease, but have also recently been associated with broader health issues, including diabetes, stroke and heart issues. In this project ancient DNA will be used to reveal changes in these bacteria as humans moved from a hunter-gatherer to farming lifestyle, providing valuable background information for modern dental/medical practice.
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
A new history of law in post-revolutionary England (c.1689-1760). This project seeks to recover and reassess the general history of English law during the seven decades following the Glorious Revolution of 1688–89, when limited monarchy, parliamentary government and the rule of law became new constitutional norms for an emergent imperial British state (and, eventually, for Australia). It aims to chart the modes of law and governance variously experienced, created and used by lay men and women, h ....A new history of law in post-revolutionary England (c.1689-1760). This project seeks to recover and reassess the general history of English law during the seven decades following the Glorious Revolution of 1688–89, when limited monarchy, parliamentary government and the rule of law became new constitutional norms for an emergent imperial British state (and, eventually, for Australia). It aims to chart the modes of law and governance variously experienced, created and used by lay men and women, husbands, wives and children, as well as by judges, lawyers, legislators and ministers. The results of this conceptual investigation, which aims to re-interpret the history of English law and government in the broadest possible way, is planned to appear as Volume IX in the Oxford History of the Laws of England series.Read moreRead less