Funding boost for Humanities research

Professor Naguib Kanawati (foreground) has received ARC funding for two research projects in Egypt.

Postgraduate students in the Division of Humanities are set to benefit from the awarding of eight Australian Research Council Grants (ARC) to the area.

These grants, awarded for a variety of projects, will raise the national and international profile of Humanities research at Macquarie and enable academics to hire research assistants from the postgraduate pool. 

Until 2004, the success rate for ARC grants in Humanities was quite low. “There were so many people doing wonderful work which the ARC has now recognised," says Dr Helen Groth from the Department of English. 

One of the reasons for this newfound success is the program put in place by Groth in 2003. Groth worked together with Colm Halbert from the Research Office to develop a seminar series to assist academics with their applications.

The series was designed so it could be rolled over each year, developed and tailored to the needs of the Division.  This year the program was expanded due to the combined efforts of Dr Andrew Gillett from the Department of Ancient History and Humanities Division Grants Officer Jan Zwar. 

“We have ended up providing a University-wide service, which is fantastic but it is a challenge,” says Groth.  "One of the areas we would like to build on is our Early Career Fellowship applications which means mentoring and involving postgraduate students in our grant writing education program." 

The 2003 seminar series was well received according to Groth, and academics appreciated the assistance provided to help them through the arduous application process.

Another by-product of the program is that an archive of successful applications was established in the Research Office and made available to postgraduates and academics alike. This enabled less experienced applicants to read successful applications from previous years and shape their own research according to ARC criteria.  The result has been a University-wide research community building exercise.

The eight grants awarded to Humanities out of fifteen applications saw Macquarie with a success rate higher than the national average. Grants were awarded in English, Modern History, Politics and Ancient History. 

Professor Naguib Kanawati, widely recognised as Australia’s foremost Egyptologist, will undertake never before attempted research in Egypt thanks to two ARC grants.

The first grant, worth nearly $700,000 over five years, will allow the team of Kanawati, Christiana Kohler and Boyo Ockinga, to study the administrative, social & health systems of the ancient Egyptian capital of Memphis. Kanawati will use the second grant to study the development of design and decoration of burial chambers in tombs of the Old Kingdom.

Kanawati plans to hire a number of students to assist him in his work: “We are taking on postgraduate students and will have one or two students at each site.”

“There is a lot of optimism and enthusiasm within the Humanities Division since the recent success,” says Zwar. “There is a collegial pride and for the more senior staff, a willingness to be part of that process in the future. That is academic citizenship.”

For further information contact Jan Zwar: jzwar@hmn.mq.edu.au

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