As a result of COVID-19, there are three urgent matters arising relating to the Australian Historical Association.
AHA Annual Conference 2020
It is with great regret that, given the latest developments with COVID-19, the AHA conference will not go ahead from 29 June-3rd July 2020 at Deakin University. With recent government directives on health and safety and the restrictions on both domestic and international travel, as well as the public health issues surrounding mass gatherings, it is prudent not to proceed with our annual conference at this time. We will provide further details soon on the scheduling of the AHA annual conference and further actions. For those who have submitted abstracts Deakin University will provide more details shortly.
AHA Executive Elections and the Annual General Meeting
As many of you would be aware the elections for the office bearers of the AHA executive for President, Vice-President, Treasurer, Honorary Secretary, 5 Ordinary Members, PhD and ECR representatives are due to be held in 2020. These elections will go ahead. A call for expressions of interest for the positions will be circulated in April. As per the AHA Constitution, if there is one nomination for each role then that nominee with automatically be elected.
In the event there is more than one nomination for a position, an election will take place at the Annual General Meeting. This election will occur on-line. The AGM which ordinarily occurs at the time of the AHA conference will take place virtually. There are a number of other governance matters which are decided at the AGM which includes approval of the auditor’s report of the AHA’s finances. We will hold this meeting to ensure the continuation of AHA governance.
AHA Prizes
The AHA prizes will be awarded in 2020. The results of these prizes will be announced virtually. These prizes are: The Kay Daniels Award, the Magarey Medal for Biography, the Serle Award, the WK Hancock Prize, the Jill Roe Prize, the Allan Martin Award and the Ann Curthoys Prize.
The following bursaries and scholarships will be announced virtually and in due course: Patrick Wolfe Early Career Researcher Conference Bursary; AHA-Copyright Agency Early Career Researcher Mentorship Scheme; AHA/Copyright Agency Postgraduate Conference Bursaries; AHA/Honest History AHA Conference Teacher Scholarship; NAA/AHA Postgraduate Scholarships; Jill Roe Early Career Researcher AHA Conference Scholarship Scheme.
The AHA executive appreciates your patience and understanding as we navigate through the challenges posed to our organisation by COVID-19. We will provide further updates on the AHA conference, the governance of the AHA and the AGM and the annual and bi-annual prizes as we respond to the rapidly changing and very fluid circumstances upon us.
In the meantime, we send all our AHA community our best wishes and support as we all try and manage this extraordinary situation as best we possibly can do so.