Kate Darian-Smith is an Associate Investigator (2017) with the Centre. She holds joint appointments as Professor of Australian Studies and History and Chair of the History Program in the School of Historical and Philosophical Studies, and Professor of Cultural Heritage in the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning at The University of Melbourne. She is a cultural historian who has published widely on Australian and imperial histories on colonialism, war and society, childhood, design and media; on memory studies; and on museology, public history and heritage. She is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia; Research Fellow, Museum Victoria; and Co-Director of the Australian Centre for Architectural History, Urban and Cultural Heritage (ACAHUCH), The University of Melbourne.
Kate has held senior leadership positions within the Faculty of Arts, including Deputy Dean, Associate Dean, Head of School, and Director of The Australian Centre. She is co-editor of Australian Historical Studies; a co-editor of History Compass; sits on numerous editorial boards; and has received the University and national (ALTC) awards for outstanding RHD mentoring in the humanities. In 2016, Kate was appointed to the Australian Research Council’s College of Experts, and previously was on its ERA Committee. Her service includes terms as President, and current Vice-President, International Australian Studies Association; Executive, Australasian Consortia of Humanities Research Centres; Council, Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House; and as current Chair, Art and Heritage Collections Advisory Committee, City of Melbourne. Kate has been involved in international Australian Studies activities for over two decades, and recently completed two terms on the Board of the Australia-Japan Foundation (DFAT), and is on the Academic Advisory Committee, Foundation for Australian Studies in China (FASIC).
Kate has held continuous ARC grants since 1999, and these currently include ‘Beyond 1914: Knowledge, War, Peace, and Nation’ (DP160101109) and as Lead Chief Investigator on ‘Migration, Cultural Diversity and Television: Reflecting Modern Australia’ (DP160101109). Her recent book publications include Designing Schools: Space, Place and Pedagogy (Routledge, 2017, co-edited with J. Willis); Conciliation on Colonial Frontiers: Conflict, Performance and Commemoration in Australia and the Pacific Rim (Routledge, 2015, co-edited with P. Edmonds) and Children, Childhood and Cultural Heritage (Routledge, 2013, co-edited with C. Pascoe).
Contact
k.darian-smith@unimelb.edu.au
The University of Melbourne profile
Research
Commemoration, Emotion and the Bombing of Darwin, 1942‒2017