Our Council is responsible for determining the Academy’s strategic direction and is guided by our Royal Charter and By-laws and the conditions of our grant-in-aid funding from the Commonwealth Government.

Strategic objectives

Our purpose is to support excellence in the humanities and promote the contribution of the humanities to national prosperity and wellbeing. We are guided by values of independence, diversity, academic freedom and integrity.

To achieve this, we are committed to:

• providing leadership in the humanities
• inspiring excellence in our disciplines
• engaging our constituency and our community
• fostering international engagement and collaboration
• enhancing policy development
• building future capacity in humanities research and education.

International connections

Recognised internationally as the authoritative organisation for the humanities in Australia, we are a key point of contact for international organisations that wish to explore collaborative activities with Australia’s humanities community.

Our International Strategy sets out key objectives and actions:

• establish and maintain long-term productive relations with a wide range of international bodies concerned with the humanities
• promote the international status of Australian humanities research, teaching and policy development
• assist Australian humanities scholars, including early career researchers, to develop and strengthen international partnerships
• collaborate with other local, regional and international organisations to promote and foster knowledge of and the pursuit of excellence in the humanities.

The Academy is a member of the Union Académique Internationale (UAI) (International Union of Academies), an international federation of learned academies from countries all over the world.

We have a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) and since 2012 have collaborated with CASS on five joint workshops. We also have strategic partnerships in place with the British Academy, the National Academy of Sciences, Republic of Korea, and the Royal Society Te Apārangi.

Communications & engagement

Our Communication and Engagement Strategy guides our efforts to tell the story about what the Academy does, connect with Fellows and stakeholders, and promote the value of the humanities to public life. Our work aims to:

• promote the breadth and depth of humanities in public life
• raise the Academy’s reputation and relevance  with government, peak representative bodies, industry and cultural sectors, educational institutions, and the media
• support mutual exchange and sharing of expertise
• provide diverse pathways for Fellows to participate in the workings of the Academy and advance the strength of the  Australian humanities community
• nurture early career humanities researchers.