We are delighted to announce our sixteen 2025 Menzies Early Career Network (MECN) Scholars.

Based on their proposals and research interests, we have curated a list of young university students from around Australia with diverse backgrounds. Over the next six months, this network of students will be given workshops, tutorials, and mentorship to develop their research question on Menzies-era history into a publishable essay.

Dr. Damien Freeman will coordinate the network, pairing the participants with four leading experts.

The program includes a one-day introductory session in Sydney, online seminars, a concluding event in Melbourne alongside the annual conference, and a book launch at Parliament House in Canberra.

Damien is also overseeing the editing and publication of a participant-authored volume and coordinating podcast interviews for each chapter with Afternoon Light, the Australia’s most popular political history podcast.

MECN PARTICIPANTS:

Pablo Avaria-Jimenel – Harvard (also BA USyd, MBA Monash)
Xiaoxi (Alex) Cui – University of Melbourne
Mary d’Assumpcao – Campion College
Molly Doran – Campion College
Fiona Duncan – University of Melbourne
Andew Fankhauser – Monash University
Zara Holt – University of Sydney
Charlie Hume – University of Melbourne
Aryan Ilkhani – University of Sydney
Axel Melkonian – University of Sydney
Chantal Moore – Macquarie University (also LLB Bond, BA Macq, MPub Pol Griffith)
Jamie Robins – University of Queensland
Charlie Ryan – Monash University
Artistidis Tsoulakos – Monash University (previously Swinburne)
Anton Vassallo – University of Queensland (also ANU)
Ethan Westwood – University of Wollongong

Receiving mentorship in law & governance, foreign policy, and social and political thought, our MECN cohort this year will confront topics such as the Australian Secret Intelligence Service, Japanese Trade, and Post-war German Immigration, to name just a few.