AustLit

'We put the final touches on issue 14.3 in the wake of the Newcastle Australian Historical Association (AHA) conference, happily exhausted by a programme jam-packed with stimulating papers, book launches and the other gatherings described in Lynette Russell’s President’s Report. An exciting aspect of this year’s AHA was the vibrant presence of so many postgraduate and early career researchers, whose contributions enriched a great number of panels. Beyond presenting their scholarship, these well-organised researchers displayed plenty of initiative, seeking opportunities for publication, and stimulating discussion of their careers and the profession more broadly. Several examples of their involvement are worth highlighting here, including the work of the Early Career Research Network, which hosted a number of events on publishing and grant writing, displaying the strategic thinking, generosity and sense of community that is emerging among this newest generation of historians. From our perspective as editors of History Australia, we were particularly pleased to take part in a roundtable session for postgraduates on getting their work published, chaired by Alana Piper and organised by Daniel May. Alongside this, the postgraduate CAL Bursary recipients, currently working with their AHA-appointed mentors to turn their conference papers into journal submissions, presented extremely promising research on gender, colonialism, migration and other forms of mobility. Congratulations to AHA ECR representatives Margaret Hutchison and Carolyn Holbrook who recently won a grant from the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund to launch a similar mentoring scheme for ECRs. We look forward in future years to CAL Bursary postgraduates being joined by those taking advantage of this new scheme.' (Editorial introduction)