Sydney academics elected to Australian Academy of the Humanities

Professor Vrasidas Karalis, Sir Nicholas Laurantos Chair in Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies, and Professor Monika Bednarek, Professor of Linguistics, were inducted into the Academy last week. Election to the Academy is the highest honour in the humanities in Australia.

Professor Karalis, Chair of Sir Nicholas Laurantos in Modern Greek, specialises in Greek cinema, Byzantine culture, and the work of Australian Nobel Laureate Patrick White. For the past 20 years, his research has focused on Modern Greek, Byzantine, and Cultural Studies, with a more recent interest in New Testament Studies. Professor Karalis has contributed significantly to translation, notably rendering three major novels by Patrick White (Voss, The Vivisector and A Cheery Soul) into Greek. He has actively engaged with Australian audiences through public lectures in both Greek Australian and mainstream Australian venues. Advocating for the integration of Greek studies into the broader academic and cultural landscape, he challenges the introverted 'ghetto mentality' often associated with the field. He was awarded the Federation Medal by the Australian Federal Government in 2003.

Dr Monika Bednarek joined the Department of Linguistics in 2005, after completing her PhD at the University of Augsburg, Germany. She undertook extensive postdoctoral research at the University of Sydney and the University of Technology Sydney, focusing on evaluative language in popular and quality press, and the language of fictional television. Her research spans corpus linguistics, ecolinguistics, discourse analysis, sociolinguistics, pragmatics, and media linguistics, with a particular emphasis on the linguistic expression of emotion and attitude. As director of the Sydney Corpus Lab, Dr Bednarek is dedicated to advancing corpus linguistics, a discipline that utilises computer resources to analyse and understand the patterns and variations in language, leading to the development of new theories of language in Australia. 

"This acknowledgement is a testament to the groundbreaking research and long-term contributions of Professors Karalis and Bednarek,” said Professor Lisa Adkins, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. “Their work shows a strong commitment to advancing knowledge and fostering a deeper understanding of humanity's cultural and linguistic heritage. We are proud of their accomplishments and leadership.

“Professor Karalis and Professor Bednarek’s election highlights the exceptional regard in which their work is held by peers within the national and international humanities community.”

The Australian Academy of the Humanities, one of Australia’s five Learned Academies, was established in 1969 to advance knowledge and excellence in the humanities. Its Fellowship comprises over 700 esteemed scholars who have demonstrated significant impact in diverse fields, including archaeology, the arts, linguistics, literature, Indigenous studies, history, and philosophy.