An aerial photo of four people working around a wooden table which has textbooks, laptops and take away coffee cups on it

Our purpose

  1. We recognise that history-makers are everywhere. Making sense of the past is done by a diverse array of people within and outside the disciplinary field of history and in a variety of formats. We seek to converse and collaborate as well as communicate with these history-makers as we explore the boundaries of our discipline. We think research should be done in public and with communities.
  2. We understand that we live in a period in which technologies (including digital technologies) are reshaping the landscapes of human and non-human life. Making sense of this historical context is more important than ever in the face of pressing environmental, social and technological concerns.  This has implications for
    • the kinds of questions we ask about the past
    • the methods available (to us and to publics) for understanding it
    • the forms of engagement we undertake
    • the obligations upon us as meaning-makers
  3. We are located in a University of Technology, which has long tradition of doing research that is motivated by public concerns and directed at public audiences, through a focus on processes, skills and industry. This connects us to a diverse range of people, practices and opportunities. It also asks us to complicate the narratives of technological progress we so often encounter. 
  4. We are an Australian Centre, participating in a national as well as a local conversation, and grounded in our engagement with questions particular to our history as a settler colonial society that is grappling with specific environmental, democratic and epistemic legacies.

Objectives

  • advance international scholarship on the meaning and place of history in society
  • boost public engagement with that presence of the past in our community
  • engage with public debates on the past, expand public historical knowledge, and develop community historical connections
  • unite a range of historical researchers across UTS: from the Faculties of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS), Law, Design and Building
  • demonstrate the integral link between public history skills and knowledges in the university and the broader community
  • foster and undertake research in the area of public history, and carry out appropriate consultancies to support these objectives
  • strengthen collaborative links in the field of history between the academic and the galleries, libraries, archives, and museums (GLAM) sectors
  • provide a variety of bodies in educational, community and professional sectors with a gateway to public history expertise and resources at UTS
  • foster international exchanges of both staff and students.