Current President

Professor Kate Darian-Smith is the President of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia, commencing her term in 2025.

She is Professorial Research Fellow at the University of Melbourne. Professor Darian-Smith served as Executive Dean and Pro Vice-Chancellor, College of Arts, Law and Education, at the University of Tasmania (2018-2024). She previously held senior leadership roles at the University of Melbourne, including professorial appointments in Australian Studies, History, and Cultural Heritage, and as Director of the Australian Centre, and Associate Dean and Deputy Dean roles in the Faculty of Arts. She has held visiting professorial positions at universities in the US, China and Japan.

Professor Darian-Smith has a distinguished academic career, recognised internationally for her research in Australian history, cultural heritage, memory studies, and histories of war and society, settler-Indigenous relations, childhood, education, media and migration.  Her recent research focuses on Australia’s cultural and social transformations during the 20th century.

She has held 15 Australian Research Council (ARC) grants, including as node convenor for the ARC Cultural Research Network, and served on the ARC’s Humanities and Creative Arts Evaluation Committee for ERA and College of Experts.  A member of several international academic editorial boards, Professor Darian-Smith is former editor of Australian Historical Studies and section editor for History Compass, and is currently on the Editorial Advisory Board, Documents on Australian Foreign Policy, at DFAT.  Other government appointments have included to the Board, Australia-Japan Foundation, DFAT and the Council, Australian Museum of Democracy, Old Parliament House.   Her contributions extend to advisory roles with government, museums, and cultural organisations, and she is Senior Research Fellow at Museums Victoria.

Professor Darian-Smith has a longstanding commitment to promoting Australian Studies internationally, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region, and is a past President of the International Australian Studies Association. Elected as a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia in 2008, she brings a wealth of experience and a passion for interdisciplinary collaboration to her leadership of the Academy.

Past presidents

  • 1943-52           Dr Kenneth Cunningham
  • 1952-53           Professor Sir Douglas Copland
  • 1953-58           Sir Leslie Melville
  • 1958-62           Professor Sydney Butlin
  • 1962-64           Professor Wilfred Borrie
  • 1964-66           Professor William O’Neil
  • 1966-69           Professor Percy Partridge

Social Science Research Council incorporates as the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia

  • 1969–72           Professor Richard (Dick) Downing
  • 1972–75           Professor Geoffrey Sawer AO
  • 1975–78           Professor Fred Gruen AO
  • 1978–81           Professor Alan Shaw AO
  • 1981–84           Professor Keith Hancock AO
  • 1984–87           Professor Joseph Issac AO
  • 1987–90           Professor Peter Karmel AC
  • 1990–93           Professor Peter Sheehan AO
  • 1993–97           Professor Paul Bourke

(Terms commencing 1 January)

  • 1998–00           Professor Fay Gale AO
  • 2001–03           Professor Leon Mann AO
  • 2004–06           Professor Sue Richardson AM
  • 2007–09           Professor Stuart Macintyre AO
  • 2010–12            Professor Barry McGaw AO
  • 2013–15            Professor Deborah Terry AO
  • 2016–18            Professor Glenn Withers AO
  • 2019-21             Professor Jane Hall AO
  • 2022-2024       Professor Richard Holden

Last updated : 18/09/2017 | Governance |