Head of the ANU Humanities Research Centre, Professor Kylie Message-Jones recently returned from international meetings of Humanities Research Centre Directors. 

The first was at the Dahlem Humanities Center at Freie University in Berlin, where she gave an invited presentation about the HRC. The second was at the University of Santiago and at the Museum of Memory and Human Rights in Chile for the annual meeting of the CHCI (Consortium of Humanities Research Centres and Institutes). Attending these meetings in person was intensive but seeded valuable opportunities and networks that will lead to exciting programs over the next few years.

Focused on the conference theme Conmociones: Critical Distance and Construction of the Common, she organised and chaired a panel on the topic of “Public Humanities and Human Rights” that explored the role of public humanities in contentious times of upheaval and disruption in different national and global contexts. Speakers represented the Museum of Memory and Human Rights (Chile), Valparaiso University (Chile), the Social Outbreak Museum (Chile), Brigham Young University (US), and the University of Cincinnati (US). 

A highlight of the CHCI conference was that one of our HRC-NMA summer scholars from this year, Evelyn Lambeth (PhD student, University of Tasmania) won a full CHCI scholarship to attend the conference, as did HRC Honorary Professor Vanessa Agnew, so it was a great opportunity for a HRC catchup.