Professor Andrekos Varnava

Professor

College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences

place Social Science South (217)
GPO Box 2100, Adelaide 5001, South Australia

Professor Andrekos Varnava, FRHistS, was born (1979) and raised in Melbourne to Cypriot-born parents, obtained his BA(Honours) from Monash University(2001) and his PhD(2006) from the University of Melbourne. He has authored four monographs: Assassination in Colonial Cyprus in 1934 and the Origins of EOKA (Anthem,2021); British Cyprus and the Long Great War, 1914-1925: Empire, Loyalties and Democratic Deficit (Routledge,2020/ppk.2021); Serving the Empire in the Great War: The Cypriot Mule Corps, Imperial Loyalty and Silenced Memory (ManUniPress,2017/ppk.2019) and British Imperialism in Cyprus, 1878-1915: The Inconsequential Possession (ManUniPress,2009/ppk.2012). He has edited/co-edited 16 collections, most recently: Popular Culture and its Relationship to Conflict in the UK and Australia since the Great War (Routledge,2023); New Perspectives on the Greek War of Independence: Myths, Realities, Legacies and Reflections (Palgrave,2022); Exiting War: The British Empire and the 1918-20 Moment (ManUniPress,2022); After the Armistice: Empire, Endgame and Aftermath (Routledge,2021). He has co-edited special issues of Immigrants & Minorities, 40(1-2), 2022, Australian Historical Studies, 52(1), 2021, Contemporary British History, 33(4), 2019 and Itinerario, 38(3), 2014 and published over 60 articles/chapters including in English Historical Review (2017), The Historical Journal (2014), Journal of Modern History (2018), Historical Research (2014,2017,2022), Contemporary British History (2019), Social History of Medicine (2020), International History Review (2021), Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History (2022) and Immigrants & Minorities (2022).

Worldcat

Google Scholar

YouTube Channel

Wikipedia

Andrekos published his first poetry collection, 'In the Aviary of Youthful Freedom', in 2015. Here he recites 'Of Mules and Men', about Serving the Empire.

Qualifications

PhD (in History), University of Melbourne, August 2006.

BA (Honours First Class), Monash University, November 2001.

Honours, awards and grants

2021-2024: ARC LP210100204, Professor Andrew May (Lead CI); Dr Thomas Kehoe (CI); Professor Andrekos Varnava (CI); Dr Carolyn Holbrook (CI); Professor Alan Moodie (CI); Dr Richie Barker; Ms Hayley Jones (PI): 'Cancer culture: understanding anti-cancer campaigns in Australia'. $566,400.

2021: Joint winner of the Flinders Most Supportive Supervisor.

2021: Joint winner of the HASS Award for Research Excellence (individual category).

2018-21: ARC DP180102200, A/Professor Andrekos Varnava (Lead CI); E/P Eric Richards (CI); A/P Marinella Marmo (CI); Dr Anastasia Dukova (PI Griffith University), titled: 'Managing migrants and border control in Britain and Australia, 1901-1981', $206,531. Dr Evan Smith is a Research Fellow. Professor Richards died in September 2018. Dr Andonis Piperoglou (PI) joined the team in January 2019. Here is our website.

2018-: Honorary Professor, De Montfort University, Leicester.

2016: Flinders Research Grant (Faculty), $8,300: 'The Colonial Origins of Refugee Exclusion: Russian and Armenian Refugees in British Cyprus in the 1920s'.

2016: Flinders Research Grant (Faculty), $11,765: 'Betrayed Promises: Allied Imperialism, Humanitarianism and the Armenians'.

2014: Elected to the Fellowship of the Royal Historical Society, UK (FRHistS).

2014: Flinders Research Grant (Faculty) New Project, $6,000 (with Evan Smith): 'Monitoring a "suspect community" in the UK: The colonialist origins of the national/border security nexus and interwar London's Cypriot community'.

2012: Visiting Professor, Bogazici University, June-August 2012.

2012: Australian Academy of the Humanities Travelling Fellowship, $2,500: 'British Imperialism in Cyprus and the First World War, 1915-1925'.

2009: Flinders Research Scheme (Faculty) New Project, $4,000: 'The Establishment of the Legion d'Orient in October 1916'.

2003: A.G. Leventis Foundation Grant, $US3,500

2003: Postgraduate Overseas Research Scholarship, University of Melbourne, $3,000

2002: PhD Fieldwork Grant, University of Melbourne, $2,000

2002-5: Australian Postgraduate Award (APA)

2000: Monash Travel Abroad, $1,000

Key responsibilities

Current:

Teaching Program Director for History, Archaeology, Indigenous & Australian Studies, and Geography.

Historic:

Research Section Head for History and Archaeology and member of College Research Committee, 2018

Member of BA Course Advisory Committee, 2016-7

History Honours Coordinator, 2010-8

Coordinator of the Flinders History Research Seminar Series, 2016-8

History Director of Studies, 2016-8

Book reviews editor for History Australia, 2016-8

Teaching interests

Imperialism and colonialism; the rise and fall of the British empire; war and society in the modern world; the Great War; the history of terrorism; genocide and ethnic cleansing; the Ottoman Empire; the modern Mediterranean; the Armenian Genocide; the Cyprus 'problem'.

Topic coordinator
HIST2014 War and Society in the Modern World
HIST2002 The Rise of Britannia's Empire and the Colonial Experience
HIST3004 The Fall of Britannia's Empire and the Postcolonial Experience
HIST2043 Terrorism and Society in Modern Europe
HIST1704 History's Killing Fields
Topic lecturer
HIST7006 Making Histories
HIST1704 History's Killing Fields
Supervisory interests
Armenian genocide
British Imperialism
British imperial expansion and decolonisation
Cyprus problem
European imperial expansion and decolonisation
First World War in the Near and Middle East
History, British Empire
History, Cyprus 1191-present
History, Middle Eastern history of cultural, linguistic and religious minorities
History, Ottoman Empire and Turkey
Military history
South-eastern Europe social, political and cultural change
World War 1
Higher degree by research supervision
Current
Principal supervisor: Yianni Cartledge, ‘Aegean Islander Migration to the United Kingdom and Australia, 1815-1945: Emigration, Community Building and Integration’ (1)
Completion
Principal supervisor: Ann Matters, 'British Imperialism in Mesopotamia, 1916-1932' (1), Iliya Marovich-Old, Challenges to British Imperial Hegemony in the Mediterranean 1919-1940 (1), Marilyn Arnold, ‘Promoting Emigration to South Australia from Britain, 1829-c1850: The Importance of Newspapers and other Literature to the South Australian Colonisation Project’ (1), Kieran Mortimer-Murphy, ‘French and British Policy and Culture in Egypt 1798-1841: The Reign of Muhammad Ali and the Eastern Crisis’ (1), Stephanie Jacobs, ‘My Beloved Enemy: Muslim-Christian Relations in Cyprus prior to Conflict and Division’ (1), Casey Raeside, 'British Humanitarian Thought, The Morant Bay Massacre, and the Bulgarian Atrocities' (1), Sandra Kearney, 'Finding a Needle in a Haystack. An Examination of the South Australian Red Cross Information Bureau 1915-1919' (1), Ellen Whitton, 'Filmakers as Historians: The Films of Powell and Pressburger' (1)
Associate supervisor: Darryl Burrows, Historians at War: Cold War Influences on Anglo-American Representations of the Spanish Civil War (1), Simon King, 'The development and reception of public opinion polling in Australia 1920-1945' (1), Stephanie James, 'Deep green loathing? An examination of shifting Irish - Australian loyalties in the Victorian and South Australian Irish - Catholic press 1868 - 1923' (1)
Expert for media contact
Conflict/Disputes
History - British
History - European
Nationalism
Refugees
Terrorism
Britain and The Middle East
British Imperialism
Cyprus Problem
First World War in the Near and Middle East
Greco-Turkish Relations
History of Cyprus 1191-Present
Late Ottoman Empire
Available for contact via
Or contact the media team
+61 8 82012092
0427 398 713
Media expertise
  • Conflict/Disputes
  • History - British
  • History - European
  • Nationalism
  • Refugees
  • Terrorism
Interests
  • Britain and The Middle East
  • British Imperialism
  • Cyprus Problem
  • First World War in the Near and Middle East
  • Greco-Turkish Relations
  • History of Cyprus 1191-Present
  • Late Ottoman Empire
Further information

Interviews:

With Andreas Charalambous on the British occupation and early administration of Cyprus, 2 December 2022

Australian Historical Association Interview with Dr Margaret Hutchison, 1 May 2017

'Reunification for Cyprus?' on ABC Radio National, 5 February 2017

Andrekos on Australia and the Great War on ABC Radio Tropical North with Meech Philpott

Recent & Forthcoming Conference Presentations/Public Lectures

‘Australia! Australia: The Voyage of the SS Corsica and its passengers from Cyprus to Australia in 1951-52’, Greek History and Culture Seminars, organised and hosted by The Greek Community of Melbourne, 29 August 2019.

‘Cypriot Emigration, 1820s to 1920s: Economic Motivations within Local and More Global Migration Patterns’, keynote for the 13th International Conference on Greek Research, Flinders University, 21-22 June 2019.

‘Arthur Crosfield and the Failure of the Enosis Movement in 1920: Liberal Philhellenism, Imperialism and the Greater War’, Empire, Armistice and Aftermath: The British Empire at the ‘End’ of the Great War, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, 5-7 December 2018.

(with Andonis Piperoglou) ‘The Colonial Career of Hamilton Goold-Adams in Africa, Cyprus and Queensland’, Flinders History Seminar Series, 19 October 2018.

‘Between Resistance, Cooperation and Assassination: Who Was Behind the Assassination of Antonios Triantafyllides in Colonial Cyprus in 1934?’, invited seminar at UNSW, 4 September 2018.

(with Evan Smith) ‘Destitute Cypriots Abroad, 1914-1931’, Britain and the World Conference, Exeter University, 21-23 June 2018.

‘Cypriot Christians and Muslims United against the Armenian Legion, 1917-8’, Australasian Association for European History(AAEH), Europe’s Entanglements, Monash University, 11-14 July 2017.

‘Towards a Biography of Cat Stevens/Yusuf Islam’, Flinders History Seminar Series, forthcoming, 28 October 2016.