Agnieszka Sobocinska is Professor of Global History and Director of the Australia Studies Institute at King’s College London.

Agnieszka’s research explores the intersections between history, politics and geography in the contexts of international development, North-South contacts, and Australia-Asia relations.

She is Primary Investigator of the European Research Council Consolidator grant DEVHIST: Twentieth Century International Development in the Global South (2025-2030). This project applies a whole-of-lifecycle methodology to internationally financed development projects, with a particular focus on implementation as a dynamic stage during which projects could be renegotiated by mid-level and grassroots actors. It analyses overlooked sources including project files, local narratives and oral histories to offer fresh insights into twentieth century development initiatives across Asia, Africa and Latin America.

Agnieszka is the author of 'Saving the World? Western Volunteers and the Rise of the Humanitarian-Development Complex' (Cambridge University Press, 2021) and 'Visiting the Neighbours: Australians in Asia' (UNSW Press, 2014).

Agnieszka has previously led research projects on international development volunteering (Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Research Award, 2016-2021) and Australia-Indonesia non-elite relations (Australia-Indonesia Centre). She was also part of an Australian Research Council Discovery Project team exploring Australian military communities in decolonising Southeast Asia.

Before joining King’s in 2022, Agnieszka was Associate Professor of History at Monash University. She has also worked at the University of Sydney, Universitas Udayana (Indonesia), and the Royal University of Phnom Penh.

Research

• Histories of foreign aid, international development and humanitarianism
• Histories and politics of non-elite mobility, travel and tourism
• Historical and contemporary Australia-Asia relations
• Non-elite and popular engagement with international affair

Teaching

PhD supervision

Agnieszka is available to supervise postgraduate students at master's and PhD level in the following areas:

• Histories and geographies of development, humanitarianism and foreign aid
• Australia and the World
• Histories and geographies of mobility, travel and tourism
• Non-elite experiences of decolonisation and globalisation

Further details

See Agnieszka's research profile