Koen Stapelbroek

Front page of 'Transactions of the Royal Historical Society' Comment article, title 'The Historian in the Age of AI', by Chris Campbell. Full abstract: "This comment interrogates the methods and conclusions of Working with AI, a recent report conducted under the auspices of Microsoft, which identified historians as the profession with the second-highest ‘AI applicability’. It finds that the authors’ conclusions are based on an erroneous simplification and misrepresentation of a historian’s typical professional tasks, which have been publicly amplified by extensive media coverage. This comment then offers a wider provocation about the report’s conception of a professional historian, and whether it is related to the public application of ‘historian’ to a number of different practitioners with varied training and qualifications. In particular, it seeks to highlight a paradox which the report exposes: that we cannot defend the specialist training and expertise of professional historians against the encroachment of AI without also separating the academic skills and qualifications of historians from those engaged in more popular forms of historical writing and communication. The comment questions how we might grapple with this paradox without reverting to academic elitism."

What does Gen AI mean for the work of the historian and the value of historical experience, skills and craft?

'The Historian in the Age of AI' by @chriscampbell1.bsky.social.

New Comment article now available in 'Transactions of the Royal Historical Society' bit.ly/4atErTB #Skystorians 1/2

'Australia’s major research universities have warned that declining support for the humanities could threaten the country’s ability to operate in its region.' 1/3

"An Institution of Help and Education" In 2025, James Cook University celebrates its proud legacy in historical research, writing and publishing through the  Studies in North Quee...

Our 9th 'Studies in North Queensland History' retrospective @jcucase.bsky.social @jcuofficial.bsky.social is Mary Carroll on "An Institution of Help and Education" and the history of Free Public Library Services in Townsville 1866-1981, by Richard Sayers jculibrarynews.blogspot.com/2025/10/an-i...

🚨 Job alert: Two 2-year post doctor fellowships in history at UNSW Sydney.

external-careers.jobs.unsw.edu.au/cw/en/job/53...

ABSTRACT I argue the instrumental, paternalistic strategic culture often adopted in Australian foreign policy circles is counter-productive, preventing Australia from having productive and sustainable relationships with Pacific states. If Australian officials want to follow through on rhetorical commitments to enhance Australia's relationships in the Pacific, Australia must actively recognise the agency Pacific states have and place itself within this community of actors. Australia often positions itself as part of the 'Pacific family, but to be a collaborative member of this family it must go beyond headline commitments and fundamentally reconsider the evolving agency of small Pacific states and how this shapes Australia's interactions with them. We can understand this through the lens of normative communities. Revisiting constructivist International Relations theory, I reexamine who is included and excluded in the communities of actors that norms apply to. This has particularly significant implications around norms of climate change action and mitigation. Australia has historically tried to water down agreements and slow-role actions in this space. The ongoing bid to host COP31 perhaps offers an opportunity to both show leadership on climate-related issues and to reconfigure assumptions around Pacific agency and address the effects this has on Australia's relationships in the Pacific.

🚨Delighted to announce the winner of the Boyer Prize for best article published in the AJIA in 2024. Warm congrats to @liammoore.bsky.social for this paper analysing the complexity of 🇦🇺relations with Pacific states. #OpenAccess
www.tandfonline.com/doi/epdf/10....
#AcademicPublishing

From deserts the profits come • Jim Davidson Universities and the assault on cultural infrastructure

"...the un-versities are busy hollowing out the humanities, key contributors to our developing culture." insidestory.org.au/from-deserts...

Topsawyers: the Chinese in Cairns, 1870-1920 This year James Cook University celebrates its proud legacy in historical research, writing and publishing through the Studies in North Que...

Our 8th 'Studies in North Queensland History' retrospective for
@austhistassoc.bsky.social #AHA2025 @jcucase.bsky.social
@jcuofficial.bsky.social is @sophieloywilson.bsky.social on "Topsawyers: The Chinese in Cairns 1870-1920", by Cathie R. May: jculibrarynews.blogspot.com/2025/09/tops...

USA Fellowship to help understand rainforest stories A James Cook University researcher is off to the USA after securing a prestigious Queensland-Smithsonian Fellowship to examine rare manuscripts written by rainforest travellers up to 125 years ago.

Congratulations to Dr Elizabeth Smyth, a writer and researcher at JCU’s Roderick Centre for Australian Literature and Creative Writing in Cairns.
She is off to the USA after securing a prestigious Queensland-Smithsonian Fellowship to examine rare manuscripts written by rainforest travellers.

USA Fellowship to help understand rainforest stories A James Cook University researcher is off to the USA after securing a prestigious Queensland-Smithsonian Fellowship to examine rare manuscripts written by rainforest travellers up to 125 years ago.

A James Cook University researcher is off to the USA after securing a prestigious Queensland-Smithsonian Fellowship to examine rare manuscripts written by rainforest travellers up to 125 years ago.
Full story: shorturl.at/hFB2d

Universities have lost their way, but cost-cutting and consultants are not the answer Last week in Sydney, we saw a melodrama acted out that could stand in for the state of Australian universities more generally.

theconversation.com/universities...

PhD Scholarship: Pacific Powers - Flinders University

Don't forget that this history PhD scholarship, including an international student fee waiver, is now open for applications. It's linked to my team's current project on comparative imperialism in the Pacific region. www.flinders.edu.au/scholarships...

Yes, this, and a lot more: skills taught in the humanities are highly valuable across the board, should be included in STEM and health degrees, do what GenAI can't do, and can help recover social licence of Australian higher education. Time to get off the backfoot! (first vision, then redo policies)

PhD Scholarship: Pacific Powers - Flinders University

Announcing a PhD scholarship for a history project on imperialism and great power projection in the Pacific. Supervised by Prudence Flowers and I here at Flinders, Adelaide. It includes an international fee waiver and stipend. Start Jan 2026. www.flinders.edu.au/scholarships...

"Soon after its founding, however, it became apparent that the EUI’s splendid digs might be distracting its scholars. As one insider explained to Charlemagne: “Left to their own devices, the academics began producing studies of the wool trade in 15th-century Flanders and suchlike.” He was joking—up to a point. A search for recent articles on the EUI’s database produced a list headed by “Silk consumption and dressing practices in late-medieval Catalonia”. In 1993 the university set up a new division, the Robert Schuman Centre, to keep things forward-looking and relevant, but with mixed success. In 2017 a School of Transnational Governance was founded in the hope that this would finally do the trick."

Tell me you don't understand the purpose of humanities research without telling me you don't understand the purpose of humanities research

@economist.com @eui-history.bsky.social

www.economist.com/europe/2025/...

All the links relating to the current campaign to repeal Job-Ready Graduates are housed here. Please feel free to share widely! We'd especially love people to sign the petition. Thank you for your support! linktr.ee/aushistorica...

Repeal Job-Ready Graduates Policy Now: Restoring Equity in Higher Education - Online petition We sign this petition in solidarity with those who signed the Open Letter to the Prime Minister on 28 July 2025 (about:blank). We also write as individuals with a range of political beliefs. We are de...

If you would like to add your voice in support, you can sign here:

url.au.m.mimecastprotect.com/s/w2nbCBNqgB...

Tim Winton among 100 high-profile Australians calling for university fees that don’t ‘punish’ arts students Open letter urges Labor to reverse JRG scheme, introduced by Coalition in 2021, as cost of humanities degrees reaches more than $50,000

More than 100 high-profile and distinguished Australians -and BA graduates- have signed the @austhistassoc.bsky.social open letter calling for the repeal of Job-Ready Graduates: a policy that punishes humanities students with life-changing debts: www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

Tim Winton among 100 high-profile Australians calling for university fees that don’t ‘punish’ arts students Open letter urges Labor to reverse JRG scheme, introduced by Coalition in 2021, as cost of humanities degrees reaches more than $50,000

What is the use of a Labor government that won't address this punitive tax on humanities students? www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

Virtue Capitalists: The Rise and Fall of the Professional Class in the Anglophone World, 1870–2008 Published in Journal of Australian Studies (Ahead of Print, 2025)

@hannahforsyth.bsky.social's *Virtue Capitalists*, “the sort of book that changes how you see the world”. (Me, quoting @adamtooze.bsky.social, quoting Claire EF Wright). Class, settler-colonialism, global history - it's good!

My review out now in @jas-jozstudies.bsky.social: doi.org/10.1080/1444...

History’s booming in podcasts – but many of its academics are out of a job We live in momentous times. History podcasts and books are more popular than ever. So why is academic history in crisis?

The decline of academic history in Australia: an interesting & important article in SMH by @nickbryantoz.bsky.social Much more to be said, but a good start. Includes @frankbongiorno.bsky.social @capandgown.bsky.social @michellearrow.bsky.social Anna Clark et al
#history @austhistassoc.bsky.social

No Swank Here: : The Development of the Whitsundays as a Tourist Destination to the early 1970s This year James Cook University celebrates its proud legacy in historical research, writing and publishing through the  Studies in North Que...

Our 7th 'Studies in North Queensland History' retrospective for
@austhistassoc.bsky.social #AHA2025 @jcucase.bsky.social
@jcuofficial.bsky.social is Richard White (USyd) on "No Swank Here: The Development of the Whitsundays as a Tourist Destination"
jculibrarynews.blogspot.com/2025/07/no-s...

Congratulations to our 2025 Prize Winners, announced last week at the AHA conference in Townsville!

Towering over Townsville in North Queensland is a stunning rock. Just before flying home I took a walk up there to watch the sunrise.

#AHA2025 @austhistassoc.bsky.social in Townsville officially complete with last minute salt water croc spotting on the Friday arvo. Thanks everyone for all the inspiration and see you next year at Macquarie!

A photograph of downtown Townsville, Queensland, featuring Ross Creek and views of Flinders Street on Wulgurukaba country.

Many Australian Women's History Network members had a beautiful week in Townsville for the 2025 @austhistassoc.bsky.social Conference.

Highlights included the fantastic presentations in the AWHN stream, a plenary panel cultivating solidarity against academic precarity and our feminist dance party 👯‍♀️

I've started this awesome new project with @johannawiggers.bsky.social ! if you're a HDR or ECR and super into longform literary criticism you should consider pitching!

Presentations finished, but #AHA2025 @austhistassoc.bsky.social still “Looking up”!! Birdwatching tour with Russell McGregor on town common

The world is going troppo: and things in universities are not looking up. This week I went to a *really* good conference with the theme 'Looking Up'. But I was alarmed at the experience of those currently working in universities, many of whom are not able to look up rn.

With a million thanks to @stplbrk.bsky.social for the best collegiality ever, I had two incredible days but a bazillion heartbreaking conversations in North Queensland hannahforsyth.substack.com/p/the-world-...

This past week, educators and those interested in democratic and citizenship education came to Townsville for the SCEAA conference hosted at JCU. Attendees participated in two days of exciting discussions about the future of democratic and citizenship education across contexts.

The warmth of Townsville will forever be in my heart. 😜

Thanks. Starting to wonder why we booked Tassie, not Townsville. Oh yeah, fireside reading and snow.

Dammit.