The Harry Gentle Visiting Fellowships at Griffith University

About Harry Gentle and the Fellowships

Harry Gentle was a Griffith University alumnus who studied politics and history in the 1980s at the Griffith School of Humanities. He left a generous bequest upon his death to support the study of Australian colonial history. The Harry Gentle Resource Centre (HGRC) at Griffith University was established to promote the study of the peoples and lands of Australia, with an initial focus on the area that became Queensland and its borderlands in the nineteenth century. We encourage creative approaches to documenting, representing, and interpreting that history.

The Centre hosts an online portal of interactive resources, research publications, commentaries, and research aids to facilitate access to published and unpublished information for this period, an era of critical intercultural encounters. Visiting Fellows play an essential role in developing these resources. We acknowledge the diverse people, groups and claims on country that made up the early colonial period, including Indigenous diplomats, resisters, interpreters and guides, convicts and free-born, shipwreck survivors and settlers, religious and military – the whole range of contributors to a new era. We seek to document the lives and experiences of those persons, groups and organisations that have not been the subject of historical investigation.

HGRC invites applications from innovative scholars in disciplines relevant to digital history or the creative arts to join us for a period as Visiting Fellow and contribute to the aims of the Harry Gentle Resource Centre. The outcome of your research on resources related to the early settlement of Queensland may be presented via creative works such as photographic or art exhibitions, short stories, or historical documentaries, as well as through conventional publication.

Fellowship specifications

Two Fellowships are available for commencement on 1 July 2025. We offer shared office space, staff access to Griffith University resources and the growing digital resources of the Harry Gentle Resource Centre. An honorarium of $10,000 is attached to each Visiting Fellowship. The duration of the Fellowship is flexible, up to a period of one year.

The Harry Gentle Resource Centre is located within the Griffith Centre for Social and Cultural Research, and Visiting Fellows will have the opportunity to engage in the Centre’s research events and culture. Conditions of the award include presenting a public lecture and contributing to our publication output in print and digital forms. Funding is contingent on the satisfactory submission of an interim and final report.

How to apply

Project proposals are due by 31 May 2025. Late applications will not be considered. The Fellowship application should include the following:

  • Personal details of the applicant (name, contact details)
  • A biographical note and a short CV (maximum two pages)
  • Title of the project and abstract (up to 100 words)
  • Keywords (up to 5 words)
  • Detailed description of the project (up to 500 words)
  • Proposed project timeline (up to 200 words)
  • Research outcomes and results (up to 200 words)
  • Attach a key research output or an excerpt of at least 1000 words
  • Indication of research progression—has this project commenced?
  • Have you applied to other funding bodies for this project?
  • Two referees

For information, including suitable approaches and methods, please contact Harry Gentle Resource Centre Research Fellow Dr Lee Butterworth via email at [email protected].