Cultural and Environmental Heritage

The Cultural and Environmental Heritage specialisation provides a focused, national and international outlook on contemporary cultural and environmental practice. It enables students to explore connections between natural or environmental heritage and cultural heritage, and reflects contemporary demands for professional understandings that enable a much more comprehensive and mutually-informing approach to environmental concepts. In all aspects of the courses, there will be opportunities for detailed examination of current examples of professional practice. Students will be encouraged to either research aspects of key projects already underway in the ANU or incorporate existing workplace or other contemporary projects into their program. The ability to place and mentor students through the established internship mechanisms will be utilised to provide practical links with major projects, government departments and national institutions. In this way, the emphasis in the stream will be strongly on the intersection and interplay between academic, policy and industry professional practice in cultural and environmental heritage

Programs available

• Graduate Certificate in Liberal Arts (Cultural and Environmental Heritage)
• Graduate Diploma in Liberal Arts (Cultural and Environmental Heritage)
• Master of Liberal Arts (Cultural and Environmental Heritage)
• Master of Liberal Arts (Cultural and Environmental Heritage) (Honours)

Who Studies Cultural & Environmental Heritage?

This specialisation is particularly relevant to students or individuals who are already working in, or seek to work in:

• Government departments responsible for environment and cultural heritage policy and programs,
• Land management agencies,
• Major Indigenous and environment organisations,
• National and state cultural institutions where heritage and environment themes are highly relevant.

Why ANU?

The Australian National University is able to draw on the expertise of nationally recognised scholars who are working on a range of relevant national and international projects. These projects will provide highly relevant and contemporary material for a number of the courses that can be undertaken as part of the Cultural & Environmental Heritage stream. In particular, aspects of Indigenous heritage, which the ANU also has considerable established expertise, will be used throughout the stream to build a confident understanding in students of Indigenous approaches to caring for country and the way non-western approaches to heritage can inform contemporary heritage practice generally.  The ANU, located in the national capitol, is close to key national institutions, government departments and private organisations and individuals with considerable national and international heritage expertise. As such, the potential access to resources for these courses is unparalleled to that available to other universities offering postgraduate heritage components.

Internships and Professional Programs

Cultural & Environmental Heritage students have the opportunity to learn on the job. Students may undertake up to 12 units of internship, which counts towards their degree and offers an excellent way to gain work experience. Internship courses are offered year-round, in semesters 1 and 2, and summer and winter sessions. The two courses may be taken over two semesters, or more intensively in one or two teaching periods. Students enrolled in the Master of Liberal Arts (Honours) (Cultural & Environmental Heritage) also have the opportunity to undertake a more substantial professional development placement that counts toward their final assessment.

Career opportunities

The Cultural & Environmental Heritage stream will equip early career and future practitioners to understand the conceptual underpinnings of environment and cultural heritage practice, recognise the key issues affecting the quality of heritage practice, appreciate the complexities of planning and undertaking heritage projects and the issues of managing and presenting the outcomes of heritage to technical and public audiences.  Graduates are well placed to pursue a variety of career options both in government and private practice in the areas of cultural heritage management, land management as well as specialist environmental and heritage advisory services.

Courses

• HUMN8003 – Cultural and Environmental Heritage: Key Concepts and Practices

• MUSC8004: Internship 1
• MUSC8005: Internship 2
• HUMN8001: Interdisciplinary Humanities Research: Methods, Theories and Skills
  
• HUMN8004: Connections to Country: Understanding Indigenous heritage in Australia
• HUMN8005: Cultural landscapes
• HUMN8006: Cultural and Environmental Heritage Field Practice (Best Practice in Managing Heritage Places)
• HUMN8007: Cultural and environmental heritage research project
• HUMN8008: World Rock Art: Global Perspectives on Rock Art Research
• HUMN8010: Material Culture Studies
• HUMN8016: Introduction to Rock Art Research: Community Consultation and Documentation
• HUMN8018: Cultural and Environmental Heritage: Extended Research Project
• HUMN8020: Masterclasses in Cultural Heritage and Collections

Entry Requirements

Program Requirements

Other Specialisations
Courses from each of the other specialisations may be taken as part of the degrees specialising in Cultural and Environmental Heritage.  For more information about the courses available in each field follows the links to Museums and Collections, Visual Culture Research and Writing, World Histories and Lives.

Affiliated Program
Master of Archaeological Science

For more information
Contact program convenor:
Dr Kylie Message
E: kylie.message@anu.edu.au

How to apply
Applicants should apply directly to the University for entry into this program. Online applications can be completed at ANU Apply Online  

Further details on graduate study at ANU are available at Graduate Study at ANU