HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES
Created with the aim to enhance academic and cultural links between Australia and France, this community gathers outstanding actors dedicated to the promotion and sharing of Australian and French language, culture, education and research in the field of humanities and the social sciences. This community offers many opportunities to contribute to a better understanding of Australian and French scientific communities, and improved impact of our two countries' influence on the international stage.
NEWS AND OPPORTUNITIES
COMMUNITY LEADERS
JACQUELINE LO
Jacqueline is Director of the new Indo-Pacific Research Centre at Murdoch University. She is also Honorary Professor at the Australian National University and inaugural Chair of the Congress of French Laureates of Australia. Her research focuses on issues of race, colonialism, diaspora and the interaction of cultures and communities across ethnic, national and regional borders. Jacqueline was formerly Pro Vice Chancellor (International) of the University of Adelaide. Prior to this role, she was Chair of Academic Board at the ANU. She was also Associate Dean (International) for the ANU College of ARts and Social Sciences and executive Director of the Centre for European Studies. She was awarded Chevalier de l'Ordre des Palmes Académiques in 2014.
KERRY MULLAN
Kerry is President of ISFAR (Institute for the Study of French-Australian Relations) and convenor of the Melbourne Salon. She is also Associate Professor and convenor of Languages at RMIT University in Melbourne, where she teaches French language and culture and linguistic. Her main research interests are intercultural pragmatics (particularly the differing interactional styles of French and Australian English speakers), discourse analysis and language pedagogy. She is also currently investigating humour in social interactions. She was awarded Chevalier de l'Ordre des Palmes Académiques in 2016.
GEMMA KING
Gemma is convenor and Senior Lecturer of French at the Australian National University, and President of the Australian Society for French Studies. Her research focuses on contemporary francophone cinemas and museums, as well as transnational screen cultures. From 2023-2026, she is an ARC DECRA Fellow on the project 'sign on Screen: Language, Culture and Power in Sign Language Cinemas'. She is the author of the books Decentring France: Multilingualism and Power in Contemporary French Cinema (Manchester University Press, 2017) and Jacques Audiard (2021), a volume in Manchester UP's French Film Directors series.
PARTNERS INVOLVED
ISFAR
The Institute for the Study of French-Australian Relations (ISFAR) was founded in 1985. ISFAR conducts research and serves as a resource centre in all areas of French-Australian relations – historical as well as contemporary – and in the sciences and technology as well as in the humanities. Australia’s geographic situation means that ISFAR is particularly well placed to contribute to the advancement of knowledge of French-Australian relations in the Indo-Pacific region.
ASFS
The Australian Society for French Studies was founded in 1993. Whilst open to any interested individual, the Society exists principally to unite and represent the interests of those researchers, scholars, higher degree students and teachers working within a French Program in the Australian Higher Education Sector.
The main activity of the society is the organisation of the annual ASFS conference which takes place in a different Australian University each year. In addition to this, the ASFS enjoys a very active working relationship with the French Embassy in Australia, working with the Embassy on programmes of benefit to University students and teachers of French in Australia.