Academy Fellow

My research asks a deceptively simple question: what role do universities play in society?

Over the past two decades, I have sought to answer that question by bringing together

history, politics and policy. In doing so, I have helped establish the History and Politics of

Higher Education as a distinctive field of research in Australia and contributed to its

development internationally.

When I began this work, the history of universities was often written as the story of

institutions and their leaders. My research helped shift attention to universities as social

and political actors embedded in wider systems of government, culture and inequality. By

examining how universities have shaped and been shaped by public policy, social

movements, expertise and ideas of citizenship, I have helped reframe the questions scholars

ask about higher education and its place in modern societies. My work has shown how

historical analysis can illuminate contemporary policy challenges, particularly questions of

equity, public purpose, governance and institutional reform.

A defining feature of my research career has been my commitment to ensuring that

historical scholarship informs contemporary decision-making. Historical perspectives are

often absent from policy debates, yet governments repeatedly confront questions that have

deep historical roots. My research on the history of Australia's first tertiary education

commission, established by the Curtin-Chifley government in 1943, became directly relevant

to the 2023 Universities Accord, where I advised on the design of an independent body

capable of supporting long-term reform across electoral cycles. My subsequent ministerial

appointment to the Universities Accord Implementation Advisory Committee reflected

recognition that historical insight can contribute meaningfully to national policy

development.

Internationally, I have brought scholars together to rethink the place of higher education in

global history. Recent projects include a collaboration with the European University Institute

on universities and post-war reconstruction, and a global history of higher learning from

antiquity to the present involving more than sixty scholars across six continents. These

projects challenge established assumptions and open new ways of understanding the

relationships between education, power, culture and social change.

Beyond academia, I have consistently sought to foster public discussions about the role of

universities and their contributions to public and social goods. Through seminars, podcasts,

public history projects, policy initiatives and collaborative networks, I have worked to

connect research, public debate and policymaking. The central theme running through all of

my work is the conviction that the relationship between universities and democratic

societies matters profoundly, and that understanding their histories helps us imagine fairer

and more effective futures.

Professor of History and University Historian, University of Sydney (current)

Member, Universities Accord Implementation Advisory Committee (ministerial

appointment), 2024–2025

Member of Council, Australian National Maritime Museum (2009-14)

Member of Council, Royal Australian Historical Society (2007-13)

Visiting Fellow, Humanities Research Centre, ANU, 2023

Visitor, European University Institute, Florence, Italy (May 2023, June 2025)

Honorary Visitor, Saxo Institute, University of Copenhagen, Denmark, (Sept 2023)

Visiting Fellow, Rockefeller Center Archive, New York, 2011

J. Horne (2026). The Power to give independent advice: The legacy of the first

Universities Commission. Australian Historical Studies 57(2), 428–435.

https://doi.org/10.1080/1031461X.2026.2645598

2. N. de Coninck-Smith, J. Horne, W. Whyte, (Anthology Editors) (2025). A Cultural History

of Higher Learning, vols 1-6, Bloomsbury Publishing.

3. J. Horne, Thomas, M. (eds) (2022). Australian Universities: A conversation about public

good. Sydney: Sydney University Press

4. J. Horne (2022). International students in Australia since the early 1900s. In J. Horne &

M. A. M. Thomas (Eds.), Australian Universities: A conversation about public good.

Sydney: Sydney University Press.

5. J. Horne (2020). Mass Education and University Reform in Late Twentieth Century

Australia. British Journal of Educational Studies, 68(5), 671-690.

https://doi.org/10.1080/00071005.2020.1804526