Historical and classical studies head wins fellowship

The appointment was announced at the AAH Annual General Meeting, where Professor Barclay, who is also Director of the Fay Gale Centre in Gender Studies, was commended for the outstanding contribution she has made to the humanities discipline.

“I congratulate Professor Barclay on being elected as a Fellow of the AAH, which recognises the importance of her work,” said Professor Anton Middelberg, Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Vice-President (Research) at the University of Adelaide.

“Professor Barclay’s fellowship is a recognition of her commitment to research excellence in the humanities, and also demonstrates the impact on society of the work that our academic community undertakes.”

Professor Barclay, who came to Australia as Postdoctoral Fellow in the Centre for the History of Emotions, was also recognised for the “exceptionally high regard” in which she is held among her peers in Australia, and internationally.

“I am deeply honoured to be received as a Fellow into the Australian Academy of the Humanities,” said Professor Barclay.

“We live in a world where humanities scholarship receives very little investment and yet it provides critical insight into who we are, where we’ve came from and the futures we can build upon these ideas.

“Becoming a Fellow provides a key opportunity to speak authoritatively for the humanities in Australia and to argue for its importance to our flourishing and wellbeing.”

Prior to her current roles, Professor Barclay was Deputy Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence in the History of Emotions; held a Research Fellowship in the Institute of Irish Studies; worked as a Research Fellow at the University of Warwick; was an Economic History Society Anniversary Fellow; and was a EURIAS Marie Curie Fellow at Aarhus Institute of Advanced Studies.

She is currently working on a project on how accounting practices shape the self during the industrial revolution, funded by an ARC Discovery Project.

AAH’s fellowship is comprised of more than 700 distinguished individuals, each elected in recognition of the excellence and impact of their scholarship in various humanities fields.

These include archaeology, the arts, Asian and European studies, classical studies, Indigenous studies, literature, cultural and communication studies, languages and linguistics, philosophy, musicology, history, and religion.

Professor Barclay is one of 40 new Fellows elected to the Australian Academy of the Humanities for 2023. See the full list here.