IFPH’s Student and Early Career Group is a collective that encourages transnational engagement between students and early-career practitioners of International Public History. Its goal is to be a site where participants practicing and/or studying International Public History can exchange, workshop, and discuss projects, ideas, methodologies, and issues in the field while broadening their networks.
SECG is currently organized by students in Germany, the United States, Polan, and India but is always interested and eager for more involvement. Please email ifph.studentandearlycareer@gmail.com if you’d like to become a part of our organizing committee!
Professional Development
Early career public historians face numerous challenges stemming from both cultural and structural changes within the humanities. As noted in the article “The Humanities Have Sown the Seeds of Their Own Destruction” by Tyler Austin Harper the humanities often grapple with a crisis of identity and legitimacy. Public history, as a bridge between academia and society, experiences these issues in a particularly acute way. For young professionals entering this field, the road ahead is filled with both obstacles and opportunities for growth.
One of the most pressing challenges is navigating the evolving expectations of audiences, who increasingly seek narratives tailored to their needs. Practitioners must develop strong communication and storytelling skills to balance the need for accessibility with the demands of accuracy. A more structural challenge lies in funding and professional stability. Public history, often reliant on grants and institutional partnerships, requires young professionals to build expertise in project management, grant writing, and networking. These skills are becoming essential for securing funding and sustaining long-term initiatives.This results in early career public historians having to navigate the broader job market. Traditional academic roles are scarce, prompting many to explore career paths in museums, archives, cultural heritage, and even private consulting. Adapting to these roles often requires additional training in digital tools, marketing strategies, and cross-sector collaboration.
In response to these challenges the IFPH Student and Early Career Group will be focusing on the theme of professional development in the current academic year. The first meeting in the series will take place on Monday, December 2nd at 18:00 CET. During the meeting we will have a roundtable discussion about these themes, sharing experiences and discussing strategies to navigate the professional world of public history. As a starting point for the discussion please read the linked article that explores a wider world of challenges in humanities: “The Humanities Have Sown the Seeds of Their Own Destruction” by Tyler Austin Harper.
For further information and details on how to join the meeting please reach out to ifph.studentandearlycareer@gmail.com
