Mission and objectives
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.
Acknowledgement of Country

UTS acknowledges the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, the Boorooberongal people of the Dharug Nation, the Bidiagal people and the Gamaygal people, upon whose ancestral lands our university stands. We would also like to pay respect to the Elders both past and present, acknowledging them as the traditional custodians of knowledge for these lands.