ADI’s Deakin Distinguished Professor Yin Paradies is among 41 distinguished humanities scholars elected to Fellowship of the Australian Academy of the Humanities. 

The Academy’s new Fellows represent those who have left an indelible mark on their field, and a groundbreaking contribution to our understanding of societies and cultures. Election to the Academy is the highest honour within the humanities in Australia. 

Professor Paradies is an Aboriginal-Asian-Anglo Australian of the Wakaya people from the Gulf of Carpentaria. His internationally renowned research is cross-disciplinary, and includes research on Indigenous knowledges, decolonisation, and, most significantly, the health, social and economic effects of racism, especially against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

President of the Academy Professor Stephen Garton AM FAHA FRAHS FASSA FRSN said: 

‘Each of our Fellows are working at the forefront of issues of national and international importance and exemplify why ethical, historical, creative and cultural knowledge and expertise is critical to better decision making for a resilient society.’ 

‘Australia is facing a multitude of complex and vexed issues. Hard issues do not have black and white answers, and the humanities are critical for understanding how individuals shape and are shaped by broader social, cultural and scientific contexts. Solutions to contemporary problems require a deep understanding of these perspectives and knowledges.’

‘Fellows elected today are exemplary leaders working in critical spaces where Australia needs to be — building our understanding of Asia and the Pacific, truth-telling and shedding light on a shared history and shaping our national artistic and cultural identity.’