UQ academic is new Humanities Academy Fellow

The University of Queensland’s Professor Peter Holbrook is among 28 new Fellows of the Australian Academy of the Humanities.

Professor Holbrook is Director of the UQ Node of the ARC Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions (Europe 1100-1800).

The Academy of Humanities is dedicated to advancing excellence in the humanities to benefit the nation.

UQ President and Vice-Chancellor Professor Peter Høj congratulated Professor Holbrook on his achievement.

“This is one of the highest honours available for scholars of the humanities in Australia,” Professor Høj said.

Professor Holbrook holds a PhD from Yale and specialises in English Renaissance literature, particularly Shakespeare.

“It’s gratifying to see the humanities generally and my discipline of literary criticism in particular publicly honoured through institutions such as the Academy,” he said.

“Human beings naturally want to know about themselves – what the species has experienced, thought, felt, imagined over space and time.

”That’s exactly the kind of knowledge university-based humanities disciplines foster.”

The Academy's elected fellows are leaders and experts in human behaviour and culture.

The UQ’s Faculty of Arts now has 26 Australian Academy of the Humanities fellows.

The Academy’s areas of research include archaeology, Asian studies, classical studies, cultural and communication studies, English, European languages and cultures, history, linguistics, philosophy, religion and the history of ideas, and the arts.

Media: Faculty of Arts Marketing and Engagement Manager Lisa Summer-Hayes, l.summerhayes@uq.edu.au, +61 (0)7 3365 2632.