Menzies Centre for Australian Studies

Course detail Description

The Menzies Centre for Australian Studies is the most substantial centre for the study of Australian history and culture in Europe and one of the most significant in the world. We offer research degrees at MPhil and PhD levels in Australian history, politics, literature and film or in other areas of Australian studies by arrangement as well as access to a number of libraries which together constitute the best resources on Australian subjects in Europe. These include our own Maughan Library, the Institute of Commonwealth Studies Library, which holds one of the largest collections of social science materials relating to Australia, and the extensive Australia House Collection (at the University of London's Senate House Library).

The Centre promotes the study of Australia in British and European universities, as well as offering teaching courses on Australia at undergraduate and graduate levels within King’s College London and the University of London. There are currently three academic staff members: Professor Carl Bridge and Dr Simon Sleight, who teach and research in Australian history; and Dr Ian Henderson who works in the fields of Australian literature and film. All three staff members have extensive teaching, research and supervisory experience in the British and Australian university systems. Its Menzies Centre staff act as external examiners and administer a number of schemes for scholarly exchange between Britain and Australia. The Centre provides a highly regarded forum for the discussion of Australian issues. Its conferences, seminars and briefings attract a diverse audience and help to produce a more comprehensive, detailed and balanced perception of Australian politics, economics, life and culture than is popularly available. In Europe the Centre has enduring and close links with the Centre for Australian Studies at the University of Copenhagen, University College Dublin, the Institute of Commonwealth Studies in London, Barcelona University and the European Australian Studies Association. Further afield it has links with Australian organisations in China, America and Australia and strategic partnerships with the British Museum, National Museum of Australia, Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Australian High Commission.

You will be encouraged to attend additional seminars in Australian Studies, organised by Menzies Centre. These usually take place on Wednesdays at 17.15 during the teaching weeks of the academic year. These seminars are focused on the Centre's research objectives and include speakers from Australia, the UK and Europe. Research students will also be invited to speak in this forum. They are also encouraged to participate fully in workshops, courses and training sessions offered elsewhere in the College such as in the Graduate School and the Faculty of Arts and Humanities.

Dr Ian Henderson

Postgraduate Admissions, Admissions Office Tel +44 (0)20 7848 1649

See Postgraduate Student Handbook, annual reports and other Centre publications on the Centre's website.

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