Deakin’s Professor Tim Winter has been awarded a prestigious ARC Future Fellowship.
Professor Tim Winter from Deakin University’s Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation (ADI) has been named as one of two new Future Fellows for Deakin in the latest round of Australian Research Council (ARC) awards.
Prof Winter’s Future Fellowship project, which focuses on the use of history and culture to advance 21st century Silk Roads’ trade and diplomatic ties across Eurasia and the Indian Ocean Region, will receive over $1 m in ARC funding.
Prof Winter’s project will specifically apply the concept of heritage diplomacy to explore previously unseen connections between China’s One Belt One Road (OBOR) and its use of shared heritage of exchange, connection and dialogue to influence the future of Asia’s economic integration and regional security.
“Launched in 2013, China’s One Belt One Road initiative aims to ‘revive’ the overland and maritime trading routes, commonly known as the Silk Routes, for the 21st century,” Prof Winter explained.
“One Belt One Road is driven by a highly ambitious language of regional connectivity and seeks to build infrastructure, energy, foreign policy and people-people ties across Asia, Europe and East Africa.”
Prof Winter is President of the Association of Critical Heritage Studies and is currently working on two book projects on heritage diplomacy and a project on the practices of war heritage and its ramifications across Asia.
He said China’s rewriting of the heritage and the histories of its relationship with countries along the Silk Road route had major implications for international policy.
[testimonial_text]Heritage diplomacy and One Belt One Road’ will develop new knowledge about 21st century diplomacy and the political economies of cultural heritage today[/testimonial_text]
[testimonial_picture name=”Professor Tim Winter” details=””]
[/testimonial_picture]“It involves collaborations with One Belt One Road think tanks and universities in Australia, China, Europe and Central Asia.
“It will deliver an open-access mapping database, based on international heritage documentation standards, which will help international agencies understand the large-scale forces that shape the future of heritage conservation in the region.”
ADI Director and UNESCO Chair in comparative research on ‘Cultural Diversity and Social Justice’ Prof Fethi Mansouri congratulated Prof Winter on the award, saying One Belt One Road was a key international development.
Prof Mansouri said ADI had a history of hosting ARC Fellowships.
“Professor Winter’s award brings the number of Future Fellowship projects in ADI to four,” he said.
“ADI’s Future Fellows lead world class research projects which rightly speak to the future challenges of our time and it is fitting they are situated within a leading, globally-focussed humanities and social sciences institute.”
Professor Winter thanked Deakin Research, particularly its staff member Phuong Au, for assistance and support in developing the ARC application.
Associate Professor Ly Tran, from the Research for Educational Impact Strategic Research Centre (REDI), within the School of Education, also received an ARC Future Fellowship.
Published by Deakin Research 20 June 2017.
