Kylie Message-Jones

Kylie Message-Jones is a Professor of Public Humanities and Director of the ANU Humanities Research Centre at the Australian National University. She is also a Research Fellow of the National Museum of Australia and an Advisory Board Member of the Vietnamese Museum of Australia. With a career spanning over two decades, she works at the intersection of university and cultural sectors, committed to communicating humanities research to broad public audiences while analyzing contemporary cultural events and policies in scholarly contexts.

Professor Message-Jones holds a PhD from the University of Melbourne (2003) and a BA (Hons) from the same institution. She has also completed the Oxford Cultural Leaders program at the University of Oxford. Her academic journey includes positions at Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand, the University of Melbourne, and various leadership roles at the Australian National University.

Her research focuses on the relationships between cultural organizations, citizenship, government, and political reform movements. Message-Jones is particularly interested in museum activism, curatorial practices, and the role of cultural institutions in multicultural policy climates since the 1970s. She has pioneered methodologies for building, translating, and evaluating knowledge about collaborative research practice in cultural settings. Her work examines how museums across the world have conducted contemporary collecting and been involved in sites of activism and controversy, with significant contributions to understanding the political history and impact of culture.

Her extensive publication record includes influential books such as "Collecting Activism, Archiving Occupy Wall Street" (2019), "The Disobedient Museum: Writing at the Edge" (2018), and "Museums and Racism" (2018). These works consistently explore how museums engage with political exchange, social justice issues, and the documentation of curatorial activism within multicultural contexts. Her research output demonstrates a sustained focus on the relationships between museums, citizenship, and political reform movements.

• Research Fellow of the National Museum of Australia

Professor Message-Jones has held numerous leadership positions including Associate Dean Research for the ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences (2019-22), Director of the Australasian Consortium of Humanities Researchers and Centres (2022-23), and Head of the ANU School of Archaeology and Anthropology (2013-15). She has secured significant research funding for projects examining cultural diversity, citizenship, and museum practice, including "Cultural Diversity, Collecting Institutions, and the Making of Citizenship in Australia since the 1970s" (2012-2017) and "Curatorial Activism: Archiving Occupy" (2018).

As Director of the ANU Humanities Research Centre, she leads one of Australia's premier humanities research hubs, fostering interdisciplinary collaboration and public engagement with humanities research. She also serves as chief editor of "Humanities Research" and founding general series editor of the Routledge "Museums in Focus" book series, while maintaining active roles in international academic organizations including the Consortium of Humanities Centers and Institutes.