The Centre for Heritage and Museum Studies aims to promote and develop critical heritage and museum studies as an interdisciplinary area of academic analysis and practice, and explore its intersections with memory studies and public history, as well as anthropology, archaeology and tourism studies.

We aim to integrate research into practice and policy with a critical examination of the social, cultural and political ‘work’ that heritage does in society. Our research and teaching in the Centre addresses the following issues:

• Cultural and public policy, management practices, cultural institutions
• Community and other grassroots expressions of identity, citizenship, nationhood and sense of place
• The intersection of social justice issues and social activism with expressions of material heritage and/or intangible heritage and museums
• Commemorative and memorial practices of marginalised communities
• Immigration and multiculturalism in museums and heritage
• Collection management and curation
• Tourism and global heritage
• Political cultures of globalisation and the international policy context
• Collective memory studies, public history and oral history
• Interpretation and exhibition development
• Visitor studies
• Affect and emotion
• Repatriation and restitution

Study with us

• Undergraduate minor in heritage studies
• Masters of Museum and Heritage Studies with specialisations in:
  • Museums and Collections
  • Cultural and Environmental Heritage
  • Museum Education and Heritage Interpretation
• Higher degree research – Interdisciplinary Cross-Cultural Research (ICCR) program
• Master of Arts - Arts Administration / Master of Museum and Heritage Studies with Indiana University
• Professional Development course ‘Introduction to repatriation: principles, policy and practice

Centre Staff: Who are we and what do we do?

The Centre hosts a number of senior staff who are at the forefront of theoretical and critical developments in heritage and museum studies, as well as early and mid-career researchers and emeritus, adjunct and visiting scholars, who all contribute to the Centre’s dynamic environment and culture of research excellence.

Centre staff have area expertise in diverse geographic regions, including: Australia, Europe, Malaysia, China, Thailand, North and South America and the Pacific.