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Professor Charles Schencking, Professor of History of the Faculty of Arts at the University of Hong Kong (HKU), has been elected as a Corresponding Fellow of the Australian Academy of Humanities (the Academy).

The Australian Academy of the Humanities was established in 1969 by Royal Charter to advance knowledge of, and the pursuit of excellence in, the Humanities. It is an independent, not-for-profit organisation with a Fellowship of over 730 distinguished humanities researchers, leaders, and practitioners from around Australia and overseas, and it is one of Australia’s five Learned Academies – independent organisations established to encourage excellence in their respective fields and to provide expertise and advice at public, institutional and government levels.

As described by the Academy, “The Academy’s new Fellows represent those who have left an indelible mark on their field, and a ground breaking contribution to our understanding of societies and cultures. Election to the Academy is the highest honour within the humanities in Australia.”  President of the Academy Professor Stephen Garton AM FAHA FRAHS FASSA FRSN said. “Each of our Fellows are working at the forefront of issues of national and international importance and exemplify why ethical, historical, creative and cultural knowledge and expertise is critical to better decision making for a resilient society.”

Fellows, Honorary Fellows, and Corresponding Fellows are elected in recognition of the excellence, leadership and impact of their work in disciplinary fields or in recognition of their contribution to the public humanities and the cultural and creative life of the nation.  Corresponding Fellows are elected in recognition of their outstanding contribution in a humanities discipline, but not usually residing in Australia.

Professor Charles Schencking is among the five outstanding researchers elected as Corresponding Fellows this year with expertise in digital humanities, Islamic Studies, Asian Studies, and linguistics, who will link the Academy to new opportunities for collaboration across the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, Taiwan and Mainland China.

The Academy praised Professor Schencking as “a leading, highly respected and productive historian of modern Japan with deep connections to the Australian scholarly community and strong interests in promoting the Humanities.”

“It is a wonderful honor to be elected to this esteemed academy,” Professor Schencking said. “History is the discipline that best enables me to understand humanity,” he added, and he continually strives to convey this through his research, teaching, and postgraduate supervision.

Professor Schencking is a historian of modern Japan who has published widely on the 1923 Great Kantō Earthquake, the Japanese navy, natural hazards, Japanese-American relations, and war, state, and society. His research and teaching are both heavily influenced by exploring the interplay between politics, technology, environment, and society.  He has adopted a research-led teaching approach to his undergraduate portfolio and his teaching seeks to empower students to develop and articulate original, evidence-based ideas and opinions about the past in clear, concise, and persuasive ways.

Professor Charles Schencking began his academic career at the University of Melbourne and before that was a British Academy postdoctoral fellow at Cambridge University, and a Yasuda Banking and Trust fellow. He has held distinguished visiting appointments at the University of Tokyo, Rikkyō University, the University of Kyoto, and Murdoch University.  Over the course of his career, Professor Schencking has secured generous research funding from the British Academy, the United States National Endowment for the Humanities, the Australian Research Council, the Hong Kong Research Grants Council, and the Japan Foundation. He has been awarded prizes for research and teaching, most notably the Award for Australian University Teaching Excellence, Early Career Category from the Carrick Institute for Learning and Teaching Excellence in Australian Higher Education.

To view the announcement of the Australian Academy of Humanities: https://humanities.org.au/power-of-the-humanities/academy-humanities-announces-fellows/

For media enquiries, please contact Ms. Agatha Fung, Development and Communications team, Faculty of Arts, HKU (E-mail: agathaf@hku.hk).