Seminars
“La tentation crématoire. Les innovations et expérimentations crématoires de l’Armée française en Première Guerre mondiale”, University of Aix-Marseille, 4 April 2023.
“The League of Red Cross Societies in the aftermath of WWI: a new, revolutionary, and global approach to medical care and humanitarianism for the Red Cross world?”, Seminar presentation for The University of Manchester’s History Seminar “New approaches to medical care, humanitarianism and violence during the ‘long’ Second World War, 1931-1953”. December 2021. (invited). DP190101171.
“The French Red Cross and French Foreign Policy, 1919-1928”, Seminar Series, Flinders University, March 2021.
““N‘oublions jamais l‘Australie” Australian War Narratives in France”, Centre for Australian Studies, University of Cologne, Germany, June 2020 (invited).
“When the war is over. Burying the war dead in 1919”. Globalising and Localising the Great War Seminar, University of Oxford, January 2018. (invited)
“Understanding the French-Australian Relationship: Imperial preferences and economic partnerships in the aftermath of the First World War”. War and Society Seminar, UNSW/ADFA, November 2017. (invited)
“Entertainment at the Australians Graves Detachment”. Seminar Series, Flinders University, May 2017. (invited)
Academic Conferences
“‘Now what is there to do?’. The 1919 Cannes medical conference and the future of the Red Cross movement”, AHA annual conference, Deakin University, 28 June 2022.
“Scientific progress, new technologies and body disposal in the First World War: the case study of cremation”, for the annual conference of the Centre for Death and Society, University of Bath, 8 June 2021.
“Exhumer, identifier, réenterrer. Les expériences sensibles d’un régiment d’enterrement des corps, 1919“ for the “Corps et Guerre“ conference, Université Paris-II Panthéon Assas, 19 & 20 December 2019.
“The Proselytization of Australian Memory in the Somme and the New Sir John Monash Centre” for the “New Voices in the History of War II” conference, All Souls College, University of Oxford, 12 July 2019.
“A French Perspective on Australian Military History in the Somme” for the “Beyond Villers-Bretonneux 1918-2019” conference, UNSW/ADFA, 26 & 27 April 2019. (invited)
“Commemorating the deeds of the Empire: a constant negotiation. The Imperial War Graves Commission in the aftermath of the Great War” for the “Empire, Armistice and Aftermath” conference, Nanyang University, Singapore, 5-7 December 2018.
“Creating records for the future. Commemorating commemorations in Northern France since the 2000s” for the International Society for First World War Studies’ conference, Deakin University, 9-11 July 2018.
“La Mission française en Australie de 1918. Attentes irréalisables, occasion manquée ou incompréhension mutuelle?” for the George Rudé Seminar in French History and Civilisation, ANU, 4-7 July 2018.
“Tending to the dead: the Australian war graves detachment, 1919-1921” for the “Beyond Combat – History and the Military’s Other Tasks” conference, UNSW/ADFA, 13-14 July 2017.
“Burying the Dead, Entertaining the living. The Australian War Graves Detachment, 1919” for the “Entangled History” conference, the Australian Historical Association’s (AHA) conference, The University of Newcastle, 3-7 July 2017.
“On the necessity of internationalising Australian military history of the First World War: Villers-Bretonneux as a case study” for the “New Directions in War and History: Debating Military History” conference held at the ANU, jointly organised by the Strategic & Defence Studies Centre (ANU) and the Australian Centre for the Study of Armed Conflict and Society (UNSW/ADFA), 4 and 5 February 2016 (bursary).
“An official narrative of war: DVA-sponsored Anzac in the Somme (France) under the Hawke and Keating Governments” for the Narratives of War Symposium, held at UNISA on 19-20 November 2015 in Adelaide.
“Engaging with the founding fathers: Australians’ Commemorative Patterns at Villers-Bretonneux military cemeteries from 1990 to Today” at the Australian Historical Association’s annual conference, The University of Sydney, 7 July 2015 (bursary).
“A School Or Nothing: Victoria’s Department Of Education And Post-war Aid To Villers-Bretonneux”, at the Australian Historical Association’s 33rd annual conference, the University of Queensland, 10 July 2014.
“‘Connecting Spirits’. The commemorative patterns of an Australian school group in Northern France”, 31st Annual conference of the Australian Historical Association (AHA) held at the University of Adelaide, 11 July 2012 (bursary).
“Pratiques et discours commémoratifs australiens à Villers-Bretonneux des années 1990 à nos jours” for the conference Den Krieg Neu Denken? Neue quellen und methoden zur geschichtsschreibung des ersten Weltkriegs at, Goethe-Universität and organised by the Institut français d’histoire en Allemagne in Frankfurt. 25 October 2014. [translation: Australian commemorative practices and narratives at Villers-Bretonneux from the 1990s to today]
“Exposer la Grande Guerre au musée-mémorial national australien. Le refus de la modernité au service de la fondation d'origines sacrées” at Séminaire Arts et Sociétés – Guerres et Paix, Sciences Po and Fondation de France, Paris. 22 October 2014. [translation: Displaying the Great War at the Australian War Memorial. The refusal of modernity at the service of the foundation of sacred origins]
“Commémoration, identité et extraterritorialité: étude d'un groupe scolaire australien dans la Somme” at the seminar “The Great War Today” organised by Anne Hertzog and Nicolas Offenstadt under the aegis of the DMPA, Ministry for Defence, Paris, January 2013. [translation: Commemoration, identity and extraterritoriality: study of an Australian school group in the Somme region]
“‘A piece of Australia in France’: Australian authorities and the commemoration of Anzac Day at Villers-Bretonneux in the last decade” for the symposium Politics of the Past organised by the Centre for European Studies, ANU (Canberra). 26 April 2012.
Round Table
Memorial Policy and Commemoration” with Joseph Zimet and Caroline Winter at the “Beyond Villers-Bretonneux 1918-2019” conference, UNSW/ADFA, 26 & 27 April 2019. (invited)
“Reflections on the commemoration of the Great War” with Professor Colin Nettelbeck and Elizabeth Rechniewski for the Colloquium of the Institute for the Study of French Australian Relations, University of Adelaide, 27 September 2018. (invited).
Conference Organising
Co-organiser with Professors Melanie Oppenheimer, Susanne Schech, Neville Wylie and Dr. Rosemary Cresswell of the conference The League of Red Cross Societies: Historical Perspectives, 1919-91, hosted by the IFRC, Geneva, 14-16 June 2023
Co-organiser with Professors Guillaume Piketty, Paul-André Rosental, Melanie Oppenheimer and Davide Rodogno of the international conference The Red Cross Movement, Voluntary Organisations and Reconstructions in Western Europe in the 20th Century, supported by Flinders University and the Centre d’Histoire de Sciences Po, December 2020, postponed to 14-15 June 2021. [DP190101171]
Co-organiser with Associate Professors Andrekos Varnava and Michael J. K. Walsh, and Dr Margaret Hutchison of the international conference Empire, Armistice and Aftermath: The British Empire at the ‘End’ of the Great War, supported by Nanyang Technological University, Singapore and Flinders University, Australia, held in Singapore, 5-7 December 2018.
Organiser of the international conference South Australians in France, supported by Flinders University, The Department of Premier and Cabinet, Veterans SA, The French Embassy to Australia, the Mission du Centenaire, held in Adelaide on 22 and 23 February 2018.
Professional Development Talks & workshops
Romain Fathi, “Writing a book proposal for an academic press”, the ANU, 24 April 2019.
Romain Fathi, “Writing a book proposal for an academic press”, the University of Queensland, 18 April 2019.
Organiser and Panellist for the roundtable “Publishing during your PhD” at the Centre d’Histoire de Sciences Po, Paris, 12 January 2018.
Panellist for the roundtable “Secrets to Successfully Publishing as a HDR Student” at the AHA’s annual conference, University of Newcastle, 4 July 2017 (invited).
Presentation for German and Macedonian curators dealing with Australian First World War collective memory and remembrance practices for the OFAJ (French German Youth Council). Held at the Mission du Centenaire (France’s official board for the commemoration of the centenary of the First World War), Paris, 12 December 2013 (invited).
Public Talks
“1919 : le tournant santé publique et le début de l’expansion formidable de la Croix-Rouge”, Fondation Croix-Rouge française pour la Recherche, Paris, 27 June 2024.
“Treating the Dead with Honour? The Australian Graves Detachment and Australian Graves Services in France, 1919-1922”, at The Naval, Military and Air Force Club of South Australia, 4 May 2023.
“From Encounter Bay to Aukus : Has the Australian-French relationship ever stood a chance?”, at The Naval, Military and Air Force Club of South Australia, 15 April 2023.
“The Republican Dream and the Second Empire”, public talk at Alliance Française d’Adélaïde, 30 September 2022.
“The return of the Monarchy 1814-1848”, public talk at Alliance Française d’Adélaïde, 2 September 2022.
“Napoléon and the Premier Empire: Rise and Fall”, public talk at Alliance Française d’Adélaïde, 19 August 2022.
“The French Presidential Election is on: Who is likely to win, and what does it mean for Australia?”, public talk at Flinders University at Victoria Square, 7 April 2022.
“A Revolution that changed the World: the impacts of “1789”, public talk at Alliance Française d’Adélaïde, 10 December 2021.
“The causes of the French Revolution“, public talk at Alliance Française d’Adélaïde, 12 November 2021.
“Making Revolution: 1789 France”, public talk at Alliance Française d’Adélaïde, 15 October 2021.
“The Bourbons and the monarchie absolue”, public talk at Alliance Française d’Adélaïde, 2 July 2021.
“The House of Capet and the House of Valois: strengthening the kingdom and the monarchy”, public talk at Alliance Française d’Adélaïde, 11 June 2021.
“The Merovingians and the Carolingians: the origins of France?”, public talk at Alliance Française d’Adélaïde, 21 May 2021.
“The Great Anzac Cooption: Myth, History and National Identity”, in conversation with Paul Daley (The Guardian) and Wayne Macauley (Simpson Returns), Adelaide Festival Writers’ Week, 4 March 2020.
Sub-keynote, the History Teachers’ Association of Australia national conference, Adelaide, 1 October 2019.
“Our Corner of the Somme”, in conversation with Professor Frank Bongiorno, Muse, Canberra, 24 April 2019.
“Our Corner of the Somme”, in conversation with Associate Professor Martin Crotty, Avid Reader, Brisbane, 18 April 2019.
“Our Corner of the Somme”, in conversation with Professor Alistair Thomson, Shrine of Remembrance, Melbourne, 12 April 2019.
“Our Corner of the Somme”, State Library of South Australia, 5 April 2019.
“Was Second Villers-Bretonneux an Australian Victory?”, public lecture at the Adelaide Club, 7 June 2018. (invited)
Invited panel member for the French-Australian Chamber of Commerce’s Business Breakfast Debrief, “Macron 10+ months on”, Deloitte, 6 April 2018. (invited).
“Trench art and aerial warfare during the First World War”, South Australians in France Public conference, Adelaide, 23-24 February 2018.
“South Australia, France, and the First World War”, City of Unley’s Town Hall, 10 November 2017. (invited).
“A different perspective on the First World War: The French Experience” at the Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies Australia, Adelaide, September 2017. (invited).
Panellist for the French presidential election’s debrief organised by the French Australian Chamber of Commerce (Adelaide) at Ernst & Young on 10 May 2017. (invited).
Public lecture series “The Making of France - From Clovis to Louis XVI” at Alliance Française, Brisbane. Stretching over a millennium, the three conferences recounted turning points in French history and their lasting impacts on the country’s history, culture, arts and architecture. (invited)
Public lecture series “Perspectives on France in the World Wars” at Alliance Française, Brisbane. This cycle of three conferences delved into French history through a cultural and comparative approach, looking at arts, mentalities and representations of the First and Second World Wars and the way France experienced them compared to Australia. (invited)
“French perspective on Australian history” at Alliance Française, Brisbane, 12 June 2015. This event took place as part of a project launched by the Embassy of France to Australia. (invited).
“Same war, different collective memories: French and Australian remembrance of the First World War” at Alliance Française Canberra for the launch of French teaching kits. I was one of three guest speakers along with his Excellency Christophe Lecourtier, Ambassador of France to Australia and Joy Burch, ACT Minister for Education, 7 May 2015 (invited).