Dr Brian Opie Fellowship

He Hurumanu na Brian Opie

Applications are invited from students currently enrolled in a degree at a university or wānanga in Aotearoa New Zealand for the Dr Brian Opie Fellowship / He Hurumanu na Brian Opie Fellowship to the value of $2500. Applications, in particular, are welcomed from scholars employing new methods or theories in cultural research.

Background

Dr Brian Opie was a President of the Friends of the Turnbull Library, a long-serving Committee member, and an editor of the Turnbull Library Record.  He lectured in English at Victoria University of Wellington / Te Herenga Waka for over 40 years.  He was the President of the New Zealand Academy for the Humanities, the Executive Director of Te Whāinga Aronui / The Council for the Humanities, and the convenor of the History of Print Culture in New Zealand research programme.  In 2009, he was awarded the Pou Aronui Medal for distinguished service to the humanities.

Dr Opie believed that the work of interpretation inherent in the humanities, theorised and informed by immersion in collective knowledge and pursued by a singular, resourceful mind, has the power to generate new possible truths.  Bound not by the real or the ‘what is’, but extending into ‘what may be and should be’, humanities work enables the re-imagining of the self and of human society.  Such re-imagining may be seen as a key way in which humanity has progressed throughout its history.

By protecting and providing access to inherited knowledge of Aotearoa New Zealand, the Alexander Turnbull Library enables education in that knowledge and the possibility of its reinterpretation as this country changes over time.

The provision of scholarly support can be framed in the genre of huruhuru or feathers by which a bird can be enabled to fly.  This fellowship is a feather provided by Dr Opie, to add to the other feathers each scholar may draw upon.

Applicants should document how their research relates to the Fellowship’s aims, how the funds will be used and include a CV along with a statement in support of their project from their supervisor.

The Fellowship’s terms are:

• The Fellowship is to support research on the collections of the Alexander Turnbull Library by scholars enrolled for a higher degree at a New Zealand University or Wānanga and, in particular, such scholars employing new methods or theories in cultural research.
• The holding of other awards will be no impediment to an application.
• FoTL’s award of the Fellowship will be separate from the Annual Research Grant (where students are ineligible).
• Subject to these terms, the Fellowship will normally be awarded annually.
• No award will be made if no applicant meets the criteria.
• Receipts will not be required.
• Publicity about the Fellowship, and the successful applicant, will be undertaken by FoTL.

Closing date for 2027 applications is Friday 12 February 2027.

Submit applications and enquiries to: OpieFellowship@turnbullfriends.nz