This is the home page for the NEER Research Cluster entitled the British Enlightenment Research Network (BERN).
The Enlightenment is a rich historical epoch, an age of political, intellectual, social and cultural change in Europe that had an ideological foundation among the philosophers who believed human reason could be used to combat ignorance, superstition and absolutism. As a progressive movement, it aimed at making the world a better place: 'our first concern', declared Richard Price, one of the leading British figures of the Enlightenment, 'as lovers of our country, must be to enlighten it'.
The main aims of the British Enlightenment Research Network (BERN) are:
• To facilitate collaboration between Australian scholars to develop the capacity of innovative research in Enlightenment studies and to promote that research;
• To promote collaboration between Australian and international scholars with a view to gaining access to competitive funding for BERN projects through international funding agencies; and
• To contribute to the 'long eighteenth century' component of NEER's research interests and activities.
NEER Research Cluster Coordinator:
Dr Michael Davis, University of Tasmania
NEER Research Cluster Members:
Professor John Gascoigne (UNSW)
Professor David Lemmings (Adelaide)
Professor Iain McCalman (ANU)
Dr Anthony Page (Tasmania)
Dr Alan Tapper (Edith Cowan)
Associate Professor Alex Tyrell (La Trobe)
Professor Richard Yeo (Griffith)