Research centres, networks and groups

The Faculty of Arts contains a variety of centres, networks and groups who undertake a range of research across many disciplines. These featured centres, units and networks are closely associated with the Faculty. Links to additional, school based research centres and networks are displayed below.

ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language

The centre is investigating language as a diverse, dynamic and evolving organism that interacts with our perceptual processes in ingenious ways. At the heart of the centre’s work are four basic puzzles: Language diversity, Language learning, Language processing and Language evolution.
ARC Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions (Europe 1100-1800)

The centre operates across five Australian university nodes with the lead node at University of Western Australia. The second largest node is at the University of Melbourne, where the School of Historical and Philosophical Studies hosts the Melbourne hub together with the School of Culture and Communication.
Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Digital Ethics

The Faculty of Arts is a research partner of the Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Digital Ethics, which is committed to building cross-disciplinary research on AI and Digital Ethics at the University of Melbourne, across Australia and the globe – addressing issues of bias, transparency, fairness, privacy, equity and access in a practical and applied manner.
Comparative Network on Refugee Externalisation Policies

The Comparative Network on Refugee Externalisation Policies (CONREP) is an international, interdisciplinary six university network which researches the impact and effects of the externalisation of refugee policies in two regions: Australia’s activities in Southeast Asia and the Pacific; and the EU and its member states’ activities in North Africa.
Grimwade Centre for Cultural Materials Conservation

The Grimwade Centre for Cultural Materials Conservation develops Australia’s capacity to conserve our continuing cultural record. Through teaching and learning, research and engagement in cultural materials conservation, we enable individuals and communities to explore their past, create identity and community in the present, and access their heritage into the future.
Enlightenment Romanticism Contemporary Culture

Enlightenment Romanticism Contemporary Culture (ERCC) is a multi-school research unit which re-envisions the transition from Enlightenment to Romanticism and its legacies in the present. The inheritance of Enlightenment and Romantic thought now seems threatened by developments that it has helped engineer and with which it is still entwined.
Indigenous Settler Relations Collaboration

The multidisciplinary team of the Indigenous Settler Relations Collaboration (ISRC) explores the challenges that lie at the heart of relations between Indigenous and settler Australians. After the government rejection of the Uluru Statement from the Heart the collaboration expands public and official understanding of these challenges.
Research Unit for Indigenous Language

The Research Unit for Indigenous Language (RUIL) works with Indigenous communities across Australia and the region to expand and strengthen Indigenous language research, and to support efforts by communities to maintain their linguistic and cultural heritage. Our activities include linguistic research, training, and policy advice for industry and government.
Research Unit in Public Cultures

The Research Unit in Public Cultures (RUPC) plays a key role in facilitating scholarship, enhancing research opportunities and enabling collaborations between creative industries, cultural institutions, research institutions, academic research centres and public communities.
The Policy Lab

The Policy Lab, a Faculty of Arts research unit, explores public policy decision making, policy design, and how we know what’s working. The Policy Lab works in partnership with government and other organisations on public policy design experiments and policy-relevant research.

Research centres and units