A luminary of Australian literature, John Curtin Distinguished Professor Kim Scott has been announced as a 2024 Fellow in the Australian Academy of the Humanities.
The acclaimed author is one of five inaugural Fellows elected to its new Indigenous Studies section, which is the academy’s first new section in more than twenty-five years and aims to recognise and foster Indigenous-led endeavour in the higher education sector.
Election to the Australian Academy of Humanities recognises achievement in and contribution to the humanities in Australia and is considered the highest honour in its field.
Curtin University Vice-Chancellor Professor Harlene Hayne congratulated Professor Scott for this most recent recognition of his distinguished achievement in the humanities.
“Professor Scott is a multi-award winning Indigenous author and former Western Australian of the Year, a renowned storyteller and one of Australia’s foremost literary talents,” Professor Hayne said.
“He has won the prestigious Miles Franklin Literary Award twice for his written works, which masterfully explore the culture and history of Australia’s First Nations people.
“With an eye on the future as much as the past, Professor Scott is currently investigating how digital technologies in combination with on-country camps can consolidate, enhance and help share Aboriginal heritage, culture and language.”
Based in Curtin’s School of Media, Creative Arts and Social Inquiry, Professor Scott was initially elected to the Australian Academy as an Honorary Fellow in 2012, is a member of the WA Writers Hall of Fame and in 2022 was declared a WA State Cultural Treasure.
The Australian Academy of the Humanities is an independent, not-for-profit organisation with a Fellowship of more than 700 humanities leaders championing their unique role in understanding the past, explaining the world we live in, and imagining and shaping the future.
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.
