Sydney's the leading academy for humanities

Six members of the University's Faculty of Arts have been elected as Fellows of the prestigious Australian Academy of the Humanities.

The new members are: Robert Aldrich (History), Mark Colyvan (Philosophy), Jim (James) Masselos (History), John Pryor (Medieval Studies), Rodney Tiffen (Government and International Relations) and Peter Wilson (Classics and Ancient History).

Kate Grenville, an Honorary Associate and Writer in Residence in the Department of English at the University of Sydney, was named an Honorary Fellow.

Nineteen new members were announced at the Annual General Meeting of the Australian Academy of the Humanities last week. The University of Sydney was the leading institution in terms of the number of staff elected to the academy, once again demonstrating its traditional strength in the area of the humanities.

The University of Sydney was recently named fifth best in the world for Humanities by the Times Higher Education Supplement (see previous story).

The Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Stephen Garton, congratulated the newest members. "Election to a Fellowship in one of the Learned Academies is one of the highest forms of peer recognition for sustained outstanding scholarship. To have so many elected from the Faculty is noteworthy (and gratifying)."

Below are short profiles of the Academy's newest Fellows from the University of Sydney:

Robert Aldrich is Professor of European History and Chair of the History Department at the University of Sydney. He is an authority on the history of colonies, particularly the French overseas empire, and on the history of sexuality, particularly homosexuality. These two specialisations were joined in his landmark work Colonialism and Homosexuality (2003). He was recently decorated with the Ordre des Palmes Académiques by the French government in recognition of his services to French culture. He is co-director of the 'Nation, Empire, Globe' research cluster at the University of Sydney. He is also a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia (ASSA).

His publications include: The seduction of the Mediterranean: writing, art and homosexual fantasy (1993), Greater France: a history of French overseas expansion (1996), and Vestiges of the Colonial Empire in France: Monuments, Museums and Colonial Memories (2005)

Mark Colyvan is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Sydney. His work is broad-ranging, covering the philosophy of mathematics, philosophy of logic, decision theory, and philosophy of ecology. In the course of such interdisciplinary research he often collaborates with mathematicians and scientists. He is Associate Editor of the Australasian Journal of Philosophy. He is Chief Investigator in the Australian Centre of Excellence for Risk Analysis and Core Researcher in the Commonwealth Environment Research Facilities Research Hub: Applied Environmental Decision Analysis.

His publications include: The Indispensability of Mathematics (2001) and, with L. Ginzburg, Ecological Orbits: how planets move and populations grow (2004).

James Masselos is an honorary associate in the History Department of the University of Sydney. His broad-ranging research on the social history and visual culture of India includes Modern South Asian history and historiography, Indian art and religion, and Bombay City and Presidency. He is a founding member of the Asian Arts Society of Australia.

His publications include: Towards Nationalism: Group Affiliations and the Politics of Public Associations in Nineteenth Century Western India (1974) and The City in Action: Bombay Struggles for Power (2007).

John Pryor is Associate Professor in the History Department at the University of Sydney. He is a medievalist, working mainly on the Crusades, medieval economic history and medieval and early modern maritime history. He is Director of the Centre for Medieval Studies at the University of Sydney.

His publications include: Geography, technology and war: studies in the maritime history of the Mediterranean, 649-1571 (1988), Commerce, shipping, and naval warfare in the medieval Mediterranean (1987) and Business contracts of medieval Provence: selected notulae from the cartulary of Giraud Amalric of Marseilles, 1248 (1981).

Rodney Tiffen is Professor in the Department of Government and International Relations at the University of Sydney. He is a scholar of the media and Australian politics. His research covers such areas as democratisation, mass media and Australian relations with Asia, and he is currently working on the Australian press' political reporting over the last 50 years.

His publications include: Diplomatic Deceits - Government, Media and East Timor (2001) and, with R. Gittins, How Australia Compares (2004).

Peter Wilson is William Ritchie Professor of Classics and Chair of the Department of Classics and Ancient History at the University of Sydney. He is an authority on ancient Greek theatre, music and dance. He is currently working on a social and economic history of classical Greek drama.

His publications include: The Athenian Institution of the 'Khoregia': the Chorus, the City and the Stage (2000) and as editor, Greek Theatre and Festivals: Documentary Studies (2007).

Honorary Fellow, Kate Grenville

Kate Grenville is an Australian author of fiction and books about the writing process. She is an Honorary Associate and Writer in Residence in the Department of English at the University of Sydney. Her novels have been short-listed for the Miles Franklin Award and the Man Booker Prize. Two of her novels, Lilian's Story and Dreamhouse, have been made into films (the latter as Traps). The Secret River (2005) has won many prizes, including the Commonwealth Prize for Literature and the Christina Stead Prize, and has been an international best-seller. The Idea of Perfection (2000) won the Orange Prize.

The election criteria

Fellows elected to the Academy are residents of Australia who have achieved the highest distinction in scholarship in the humanities (Archaeology; Asian Studies; Classical Studies; English; European Languages and Cultures; History; Linguistics; Philosophy, Religion and the History of Ideas; Cultural and Communication Studies; The Arts).

Honorary Fellows include distinguished public figures who advocate for the humanities, practitioners of the arts, overseas scholars in the humanities who have a close association with Australia, and Australian-based scholars who have made substantial contributions to the humanities throughout their careers.

Contact: Kath Kenny

Phone: 02 9351 2261