News

Australian historian Professor Joy Damousi elected to British Academy's International Fellowship

• Historian Professor Joy Damousi has been elected to the British Academy's International Fellowship, one of only 32 elections in 2026
• Professor Damousi is Dean of Arts and director of the Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences at ACU, and has led significant research on Australian history of migration, women, and the aftermath of wars
• She is the only Australian to be elected to the British Academy in 2026, and only the third scholar at Australian Catholic University to be elected to the British Academy's International Fellowship, joining Professorial Fellow Professor Sarah Croakley and Emerita Professor Pauline Allen.
• The British Academy only elects a limited number of Fellows from disciplines within the humanities and social sciences each year.

One of Australia's most distinguished historians, Professor Joy Damousi AM, has been elected to the British Academy's International Fellowship for her outstanding contribution to the humanities and social sciences.

Professor Damousi is Dean of Arts and director of the Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences at ACU, leading vital research on the history of migration, gender and women's history, and the aftermaths of the two world wars.

She joins 32 new International Fellows to the British Academy and is the only Australian to be elected in 2026. She is also only the third scholar at Australian Catholic University to be elected to the British Academy's International Fellowship, joining Professorial Fellow Professor Sarah Croakley and Emerita Professor Pauline Allen.

"I am deeply honoured to be elected a Fellow of the British Academy," Professor Damousi said.

"I am delighted to be joining my esteemed colleagues to further promote and advance the history discipline, the humanities and the social sciences."

In a career spanning more than four decades, Professor Damousi's research has explored themes of the history of feminism and transnationalism, trauma and the world wars, history of psychoanalysis, refugees, migration and humanitarianism in the twentieth century.

Born into a family of Greek migrants who arrived in Melbourne in the 1950s seeking a better life for their children, her parents recognised the transformative power of education. Today, Professor Damousi is one of Australia's most esteemed historians and public intellectuals.

Professor Damousi gained her Bachelor of Arts (Hons) at La Trobe University and PhD at the Australian National University, before joining the University of Melbourne in 1992.

She is an award-winning scholar, receiving the Australian Research Council's coveted Kathleen Fitzpatrick Australian Laureate Fellowship in 2014 - only one of 16 of the Laureate Fellowships to be awarded that year - for her outstanding research leadership and scholarly excellence.

In 2022 Professor Damousi received a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for her service to social sciences and the humanities, to history and tertiary education.

A former President of the Australian Academy of the Humanities and the Australian Historical Association, which bestowed on her a Life-Time Achievement Award in 2022 in recognition of her distinguished service to the history profession -Professor Damousi continues to advocate for greater recognition of the humanities and social sciences.

The new Fellows of the British Academy represent a broad spectrum of expertise from macroeconomics and art history to ancient Greek philosophy and environmental archaeology.

Only a limited number of Fellows from disciplines within the humanities and social sciences are elected to the Academy each year. They join a community of over 1,800 scholars, including more than 400 International Fellows, who share a commitment to advancing the humanities and social sciences.

ACU's Executive Dean of Education and Arts, Professor Larissa McLean Davies, said Professor Damousi's election to the British Academy was proof of her enormous contribution to Australian history.

"Professor Joy Damousi's election to the British Academy cements her place as one of our nation's most outstanding researchers on Australian history," Professor McLean Davies said.

"As a child of migrants, Professor Damousi has also brought to light the memory and experience of Australia's Greek immigrant community, exploring the past to inspire a hopeful future.

"Her election to the British Academy's International Fellowship is a testament to her significant scholarship and influence in the humanities, arts and social sciences in Australia and impact on the world stage. And at a time when humanities and arts education is experiencing significant precarity, this honour by the British Academy is wholly encouraging.

"ACU's Faculty of Education and Arts congratulates Professor Damousi on this significant recognition by the British Academy."

ACU's Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences was launched in 2020 as part of the university's commitment to invest in the liberal arts.

Under Professor Damousi's leadership, the Institute has attracted leading historians, literary experts, sociologists and political scientists from Australia and beyond.