The School of HASS farewelled Head of School Prof Alistair Noble on 1 August – a sad occasion although we were helped through it by a well-attended and well-catered morning tea. I am now interim Head of School and am very grateful for the support of the Faculty Executive team and colleagues in the School of HASS as I have settled in to the role. I expect the appointment of an interim Deputy Head of School to be finalised soon. 

The selection process for the new (five-year) Head of School is underway, with applications having closed on 7 September and details of the selection panel circulated to all in the School in July. We are also in the later stages of appointing a new C/D in Urban and Regional Planning, who will join the Department of Geography and Planning. 

The School now has approval to offer all three components – Graduate Certificate, Graduate Diploma, Masters – of a new suite of courses in Strategic Leadership in Risk and Emergency Management from 2026. Following an EOI process, Assoc Prof Glenn Porter has been appointed as Course Coordinator.

We hosted the Aspects of Antiquity Free Public Lecture on 8 September and look forward to more major events. These include the Russel Ward Annual Lecture on 22 October (Dr Catherine Bishop, Macquarie University, will present ‘The Legend of “Home Duties”: Navigating Social Expectation and Economic Necessity in Australia’) and two conferences: ‘Marginal Places, Flows, Identities’, the Japanese Studies Association of Australia National Conference, which will bring more than 100 scholars from across Australia and Japan to Armidale 2-4 October, and  ‘Against AI? “Artificial Intelligence”, Universities and UNE’ on 23 October.