Congratulations to the 17 recipients of National Library of Australia Fellowships, Scholarships and Creative Arts Fellowship in 2026.  

Drawing on our extensive collections, the 2026 recipients will conduct research into a diverse range subjects such as industrial whaling, mental health, First Nations history and hand-painted photographs.

Established in 1984, the Fellowships program has supported over 500 Australian and international scholars and artists. Funded through generous philanthropic gifts and bequests, Fellowships and Scholarships encourage new and innovative research across a range of scholarly and creative disciplines.   

Fellowships recipients  

Supported by the Stokes family    

• Dr Sally Frampton - Mental Health First Aid: An Australian Innovation  
• Dr Joy Mcann - A Luminous Legacy: Dr Isobel Bennett and the Secrets of Australia's Seashores
• Ms Catherine Dwyer - Suzanne Bellamy and the Lost Culture of Women’s Liberation

Supported by the Alan Ives Bequest

• Dr Karen George - Finding more ways: identifying First Nations histories in the records of the Uniting Church in Australia Frontier Services, 1897-2011

Supported in memory of Cheng King Law

• Dr Adam Hughes Henry - Holding Back the Ocean – East Timor and the ALP (1977-1985)

Supported by the Harold S. Williams Trust

• Dr Pauline Basilia - Early Philippine Palaeontology: Contributions of H. Otley Beyer to Philippine Pleistocene Research

Supported by the Ray Mathew and Eva Kollsman Trust

• Dr Matthew Lamb - A cultural biography of Frank Moorhouse

Supported in memory of Professor Ivor Jones

• Dr Margaret Cook - Histories of Cyclones in Australia: Culture, Memory, and Response

Learn more about National Library Fellowships

Creative Arts Fellowship recipient

Fellowship in Australian writing, supported by the Ray Mathew and Eva Kollsman Trust

• Mr Jordan Shea - Joyce and Lorenzo

Learn more about Creative Arts Fellowships

Scholarships recipients  

Supported by Morag Fraser

• Gypsy Cook - Belonging in 21st Century Australian Brass Bands

Supported by Professor Robert and Mrs Josephine Shanks

• Mr Michael Duri - Reapers Beneath the Midnight Sun: Australians and Industrial Whaling in the Twentieth Century

Supported by memory of Cheng King Law

• Mr Mohammad Ibrahim - Legislating Islamic Morality: The Indonesian Ulama Council's Influence on the Sexual Violence Crimes Law and the Criminal Code

Supported by the Harold S. Williams Trust

• Ms Jennifer Yang - Transimperial Economies of Colour: A study of the hand-painted photograph in early 20th century Singapore

Supported by a generous donor

• Ms Tainah Rodrigues Facanha - Living Heritage: between narratives and architectures around St Mary's
• Ms Helen Pretorius - Australian women's unpublished drama of the twentieth century

Supported by Dr Michael Martin and Ms Elizabeth Popovski

• Mx Branwell Roberts - Antarctica, Colonialism and Creativity in the Archive of Thomas Griffith Taylor

The Seymour Scholarship for Biographical Research

• Ms Jasmine Ali - The Transnational Legal Life of an Anticolonial lawyer: Manilal Maganlal Shah, 1881- 1956

Learn more about National Library Scholarships

Thank you  

We would like to acknowledge the generous philanthropic gifts and bequests that support the Fellowships and Scholarships program. We also thank all applicants for the 2026 program, and unsuccessful applicants are encouraged to apply again for the next round.