Staff
Meet the Researchers
Professor Gill Westhorp
Professorial Research Fellow
PhD
Realist Research Evaluation and Learning Team
: 08 8389 4590
: Mount Torrens, SA
- Developing realist research and evaluation methods and tools, including Realist Economic Evaluation;
- Developing evaluation and research in markets new to the university:
- Building the University’s capacity for high-quality evaluation and high-impact research;
- Developing a supportive environment for evidence-informed policy and programs by building the capacity of partners and collaborators
Gill leads the Realist Research Evaluation and Learning Initiative (RREALI). The role of RREALI is to establish CDU as an Australasian centre for excellence in realist methodologies by developing realist methods, researching and enhancing the utility of realist methods, and enhancing the University’s research impact (RREALI business plan 2016-18).
Professor Helen Verran
Professorial Research Fellow
PhD, B.Sc (Hons)
: +61 8 8946 7338
: Melbourne, VIC & Darwin, NT
- Studies in method: narrative, and ethnography in social science research
- What does governance have to do with culture?
Helen has had a varied career in the academy, teaching and researching—seven universities and four continents. Before taking up her professorship at Charles Darwin University, Helen spent twenty-five years teaching and researching in History and Philosophy of Science, at the University of Melbourne in Australia. During that time she worked closely with Yolngu Aboriginal knowledge authorities and scientists as they tried to work together in respectful ways. She published many papers on this work.
In the 1980s Helen worked in Nigeria for eight years, learning a lot from the Yoruba teachers she worked with. Her book Science and an African Logic (Univ of Chicago Press, 2001) won several prestigious international prizes.
Professor Jennifer Deger
Professor of Digital Humanities
BA, MA (Prelim.), MA, PhD
Co-Director of Centre for Creative Futures
: 08 8946 7365
: Casuarina campus, CDU
- Art and visual culture in the Anthropocene
- The blue humanities
- Yolŋu Sea Country
- Co-creative and non-traditional research methods
- Experimental film and ethnography
- Digital life
- More-than-human worlds
Jennifer Deger works in the intersections of art, anthropology and environmental studies. Her research is concerned with the ways that digital media transform the ways we see, know—and care about—more-than-human worlds.
Trained in anthropology and communications, Jennifer brings an innovative approach to social research as a filmmaker, curator and writer. She has held a number of fellowships including an ARC Future Fellowship and visiting positions at the Center for Culture and Media at New York University and the Eye & Mind Lab at Aarhus University, Denmark. Most recently she co-curated Feral Atlas: The More-Than-Human Anthropocene, a custom designed website that brings together more than 100 scientists, artists, humanists and activists to explore the “feral ecologies” that arise when nonhuman entities get tangled up with industrial and imperial infrastructure projects. In 2019 Jennifer served as President of the Australian Anthropological Society.
As a founding member of the Arnhem Land-based arts collective, Miyarrka Media, Jennifer joins CDU with a commitment to furthering the potential of transdisciplinary and co-creative scholarship with her Yolŋu research partners. Their current ARC project sets out to activate a Yolŋu digital art of renewal for threatened coastlines and beaches.
Professor Payi Linda Ford
Senior Research Fellow
PhD (Education)
: +61 8 8946 7203
: Casuarina campus, CDU
- Indigenous: knowledge, ecological knowledge, land management, community development & enterprise development.
- Indigenous languages, i.e. Mak Mak Marranunggu, Marrithiel, Northern Creole & Aboriginal English
- Indigenous Women’s Business & Early Childhood
- Indigenous Higher Education Post-colonialism
- Law Indigenous Studies & Native Title Aboriginal Land Rights Act (1976)
Dr Payi Linda Ford is Aboriginal and identifies as Rak Mak Mak Marranunggu, from Kurrindju, on the Finniss River, in the Northern Territory and is currently a Principal Research Fellow at Northern Institute at CDU, with whom she has a long association. Her knowledge, expertise and research in working with Indigenous groups is clearly invaluable to the Northern Institute. Dr Ford graduated with her PhD (Education), 2006 from Deakin University.
Linda understands and is familiar with Indigenous epistemological practices and its application to her research projects. Her knowledge and experience has informed her research practises to include ways of being, knowing and ability to lead and contribute to local, national and international research projects. The Indigenist research methodologies are applied to her research projects ie. Australian Research Council Projects, FRDC Aquaculture project and Plant Biosecurity research project.
Professor Michael Christie
Professor in Education
Ph.D, M.A., B.Ed
: 08 8946 7338
: Casuarina campus, CDU
- Yolŋu languages and culture
- Yolŋu philosophy and education
- Transdisciplinary and Indigenous research
Michael Christie is a professor of education and heads up the contemporary Indigenous knowledge, governance and science research theme at the Northern Institute, Charles Darwin University.
Professor Christie worked in Yolŋu communities as a teacher linguist in the 1970s and 1980s, and started the Yolŋu Studies program at Northern Territory University (now CDU) in 1994. After working within the Faculty of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies and the School of Education, he moved to the Northern Institute in 2010.
Professor Ruth Wallace
: ruth.wallace@cdu.edu.au or ruthwallace.admin@cdu.edu.au
: 08 8946 6390
: Darwin, NT
Professor Wallace is the Dean of CDU's Faculty of Arts and Society. Ruth’s research interests relate to the links between identity, marginalised learners and the development of effective learning and workforce development pathways. This work is situated in regional and remote areas of Northern Australia and Indonesia, with a specific focus on research approaches to improve service delivery and adaptation undertaken with Aboriginal people in remote and regional areas. Ruth’s research connects to digital systematic learning pedagogies and approaches to workforce development through remote-based enterprises.
Ruth leads the workforce development research theme at the Northern Institute, Charles Darwin University and focuses on collaborative approaches to workforce development and engagement with community, governments and industry that are sustainable and scalable. Ruth has extensive experience in educational practice development and as a teacher at all educational levels.
Professor Steven Bird
Profession in Education
B.Sc. M.Sc. Ph.D.
: 08 8946 6153
: Casuarina campus, CDU
- Language Maintenance and Revitalisation
- Language Documentation and Description
- Participatory Design
- Computational Linguistics
- Digital Archives
Steven Bird is conducting social and technological experiments in the future evolution of the world's languages. Together with his students and colleagues, he is developing scalable methods for preserving disappearing words and worldviews for future generations of speakers and scholars. He is collaborating with speech communities in diasporas and ancestral homelands to design new approaches to language maintenance and revitalisation.
Associate Professor Akhilesh Surjan
Researcher & Lead - Humanitarian Response & Disaster Management Studies
PhD (Global Environment Management), BArch, MPlan
: 08 8946 6782
: Casuarina campus, CDU
Dr Akhilesh Surjan has successfully engaged with issues of disaster risk reduction, climate change adaptation and urban sustainability for two decades. He served as a Lead Author for the Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). He also served as a Contributing Author for the United Nations’ Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction.
Associate Professor Andrew Taylor
PhD, M.Bus, Grad Cert (Management), B.A.
- Impacts from population changes in northern and sparsely settled areas
- Population projections
- Indigenous populations and the changing demography
- Policy implications for population change in communities
Andrew researches the causes and consequences of population change for the Northern Territory of Australia and northern regions more broadly. He undertakes both quantitative and qualitative research to understand the impacts of policy, economic and structural changes on communities. In his PhD, he investigated policy and theoretical implications of changing migration practices for Indigenous Territorians. Before academia, Andrew worked for a decade with the Australian Bureau of Statistics. He currently teaches the masters level subject Topics in Human Geography.
Associate Professor Anne Lowell
Ph.D. (University of Sydney); B.App.Sci (Speech Pathology); Grad. Dip. (Language Studies)
: 08 8946 6297
: Casuarina campus, CDU
Anne Lowell is a Principal Research Fellow in the Northern Institute, College of Indigenous Futures, Arts and Society, specialising in collaborative qualitative research and community education with remote Aboriginal communities.
Anne's primary areas of interest include intercultural communication, particularly related to Indigenous health and early childhood, as well as culturally responsive policy and practice, in both research and provision of health services. Improving recognition of the critical importance of Indigenous cultural and linguistic expertise in research and service delivery is an ongoing priority.
Growing up children in two worlds project.
Associate Professor Kerstin Zander
Senior Research Fellow
PhD (Environmental Economics), MSc (Agricultural Science)
: 08 8946 7368
: Casuarina campus, CDU
Kerstin is an environmental economist with a background in agricultural science. Her research looks at the many relationships between humans and nature, and she aspires to increase human well-being and sustainability while helping people cope with changing environments and natural hazards. Her research focuses strongly on quantitative research and econometric models.
Associate Professor Pascal Tremblay
Ph.D. (Economics), M.A. (Economics), B.Bus (Tourism)
Pascal is an economist undertaking research connected to Northern Australia’s development.
He has been in the Northern Territory for nearly 30 years starting at the former Northern Territory University and lecturing in economics and later tourism and hospitality.
He had previously taught at the University of Tasmania, the University of British Columbia and the Université du Québec à Montréal.
His Ph.D. dissertation (University of Melbourne, 1998) examined the nature of economic coordination in the tourism system, and the role played by distinct inter-firm networks supporting differentiated learning strategies. It was awarded the TTRA W.B. Keeling tourism dissertation award for 1996-1998.
Dr Deepika Mathur
Senior Research Fellow
PhD (Sustainable Architecture)
: +61 8 8959 5214
: Alice Springs, NT
- Construction waste management
- Sustainable architecture in central Australia
- Playground design and health
Dr Deepika Mathur is a research fellow at the Northern Institute, Charles Darwin University, based in Alice Springs.
Her area of research is examining ways regional towns can be made more sustainable and healthy through the built environment. In particular, she has been conducting research on minimising construction waste generation and ways of recycling and reusing this waste in regional towns such as Alice Springs.
Dr Jackie Gould
Senior Research Fellow
: 08 8946 6652
: Casuarina campus, CDU
Research Interests: Indigenous-led Sea Country management • Protected area and fisheries governance• Collaborative management• Coastal First Nations knowledge and governance systems • Contemporary issues affecting ‘saltwater country’• Participatory mapping.
Senior Research Fellow Jackie Gould has a background in anthropology, complemented by ten years working in the Indigenous land and sea management space, with a focus on Sea Country.
Recognising the important contributions Indigenous Sea Country managers make to protecting the cultural and ecological resources of Australia's coastal and marine estate, Jackie’s research seeks to deliver tangible benefits to Indigenous communities whilst supporting the conservation and academic sectors to better understand how they can meaningfully partner with Indigenous Sea Country managers.
This includes taking seriously Indigenous knowledge authorities and the ways in which they see, know, feel and understand Country and the people-place relations embedded in it. All of Jackie’s projects respond to Indigenous research priorities and are fully co-designed and co-implemented with collaborating Indigenous partners.
Dr Jennifer Macdonald
Research Fellow
B. Sc (Hons) – Human Geography
: jennifermairi.macdonald@cdu.edu.au
: 08 8946 7334
: Casuarina campus, CDU
Research Interests: Indigenous land and sea management strategies and country-based planning • Environmental politics and decision-making practices • Contemporary practices of knowledge and governance • Livelihood aspirations of people in remote Australian communities • Indigenous research development • GroundUp and good faith research practices • Human geography
Jennifer is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow with CDU and CSIRO, part of the Responsible Innovation Future Science Platform (RI FSP) at CSIRO and with the College of Indigenous Futures, Arts and Society (CIFAS) at CDU. She is interested in data ethics and digital inclusion for remote and regional Australians and the opportunities and challenges for ethical AI-driven technologies in environmental decision-making. Her work of co-designing appropriate and acceptable technologies with Indigenous people for environmental management disrupts the idea that autonomous technology is about taking people out of the landscape and out of the loop of design thinking. She is working with Traditional Owners to build Indigenous governance into the loop of innovative design-thinking and developing methods to ensure that young people are benefiting and that Traditional Owner authority is respected.
Jennifer has experience working with Traditional Owners and their land and sea enterprises and organisations in Kakadu National Park, South-East Arnhem Land, NT, and the APY Lands, SA. Her background is in Human Geography, with a growing interest in Science and Technology Studies (STS). She completed my doctoral studies with the Research Institute for the Environment and Livelihoods (RIEL) at CDU, where she focused on building the evidence base to care for Indigenous estates successfully.
Dr Kate Golebiowska
Senior Research Fellow
PhD. (Public Policy), M.A. (Political Science)
: 08 8946 6891
: Casuarina campus, CDU
Kate is a social scientist with a doctorate in public policy from the Australian National University (2007) and a Master in Political Science from the University of Warsaw, Poland (2000).
She has long been fascinated by international migration, and her location in Darwin has contributed to the regional focus of her work. She has been involved in projects dealing with other policy issues, such as workforce mobility, the social impacts of gambling, the Third Sector and social enterprise.
Dr Kellie Pollard
Lecturer Aboriginal Futures
PhD
First Nations Sovereignty & Diplomacy Centre
: 08 8946 7354
: Casuarina campus, CDU
Research Interests: Indigenous epistemologies, ontologies and axiology • Indigenous research methodologies and ethics • Indigenous-Australian contact archaeology • Indigenous and historical archaeology • Truth-telling Australian history and treaty making.
Dr Kellie Pollard is a Wiradjuri archaeologist, lecturer and researcher at Charles Darwin University. Originally from New South Wales, she gained her PhD in Archaeology from Flinders University. Dr Pollard specialises in teaching Indigenous philosophies of knowledge-making and Indigenous methodologies. Dr Pollard is also interested in Indigenous research ethics, capacity building/self-determination in research and emancipatory approaches.
Dr Pollard is registered to supervise postgraduate research at CDU.
Dr Kerryn O'Rourke
Senior Research Fellow
PhD, MHSc, MPH, GradDip (Health Promotion), BNurs
Research Interests: Program evaluation and realist methodologies • Equity and dignity in public health • Social equity for health equity • Health and social care • Health promotion • Sexual and reproductive health • Maternity care.
Kerryn joined the realist team at the Northern Institute in early 2022, where she conducted commissioned realist evaluations and methodological development. Kerryn completed her PhD at La Trobe University in Victoria – a realist evaluation of Birth for Humankind’s doula support program for women experiencing socioeconomic adversity. Kerryn is an alumnus of the Victorian Public Health Training Scheme and has extensive work experience in the public health sector, with a strong interest and expertise in promoting health equity. In addition to her PhD, she has a Master of Health Sciences (Public Health Practice), a Master of Public Health (International Health), a Graduate Diploma in Health Promotion, and a Bachelor of Nursing. Kerryn lives in Melbourne, Victoria.
Dr Michaela Spencer
Senior Research Fellow
Ph.D, M.A., B.Sc/B.A
Research Interests: Contemporary practices of knowledge and governance • Contemporary environmental politics • Indigenous research development • Collaborative services design • Ethnography and STS.
Michaela is a Post-Doctoral Fellow with the Northern Institute at Charles Darwin University. Her background is in environmental science, sociology, geography and Science and Technology Studies (STS), with her doctoral studies focusing on recent practices of environmental management and governance practice in Tasmania.
Her current research involves working from the ‘GroundUP’ with Indigenous knowledge authorities, as well as differing traditions of knowledge and governance. This involves collaborative research for policy development research and engaging with government, service providers, university staff and Indigenous people in remote communities. So far, this research focuses on disaster resilience, emergency management, governance and leadership, remote engagement and coordination, volunteering and women’s health and wellbeing. Michaela also facilitates the Indigenous Researcher Credential program/s and is part of the Top End STS Network.
This work drives her current interest in how social science may recognise itself as an active participant in contemporary governance practices, and as working at the interface of differing means for knowing and governing Australian people-places.
Dr Felicity McClure
Senior Lecturer in Education
PhD
: 08 8959 5329
: Alice Springs campus, CDU
Research Interests: Science Education: conceptual change strategies, student-generated multiple representations, writing explanations, creativity, supporting students with special educational needs • Integrated STEM education: developing projects that encourage greater female engagement, understanding how STEM areas are integrated into classrooms • Learning environments: developing and validating questionnaires to understand the learning environment, structural equation modelling and Rasch analysis of data • Systemic change in schools: understanding barriers and supports to change.
Felicity began her career in Education as a Science teacher (Chemistry, Physics and Biology) in Turkey, teaching in both Turkish and International high schools. After returning to Australia, she was Head of Science at an independent school in the ACT. During this time, she completed her PhD, developing and analysing the effects of a multidimensional conceptual change approach, the Thinking Frames Approach, in Year 8-10 classes. Upon completing her PhD, she was invited to work as a Research Associate at Curtin University on two ARC-funded projects: “STEM Education: Students’ Attitudes to STEM, Teacher–Student Relationships and Classroom Climate” and “Drawing Science Diagrams to Enhance Students’ scientific creativity”. The second of these drew on the TFA to further develop the use of student-generated explanatory drawings to foster creative thinking in Science. In 2021, Felicity took the position of Lecturer in Education at Murdoch University, and in 2022, she joined CDU as a Senior Lecturer.
Dr Rachel Groom
Senior Research Fellow
: 08 8946 7136
: Casuarina campus, CDU
Rachel has lived and worked in Northern Australia for over 20 years. During this time, she worked as an environment manager for a consultancy firm and as a marine scientist with the NT government. She works in a Research Fellowship role with Charles Darwin University and the Australian Institute of Marine Science. Rachel has a Professional Doctorate in marine resource management. She has developed a proficient understanding of marine estate matters, and environmental and indigenous policy, including Sea Country planning and meaningful program development with Indigenous groups.
Rachel has worked on marine resource management with diverse Indigenous communities in northern Australia and PNG, including Torres Strait Treaty villages in PNG, the Wik, Girringun and Boigu Island people of North QLD, and the Larrakia, Anindilyakwa, Li-Anthawirriyarra, Crocodile Islands, Dhimurru and Thamarrurr Rangers in the NT. She has also led numerous marine research and impact assessment programs in Australia and overseas (UAE, PNG). Her knowledge and experience include the design of monitoring and research projects, leading teams of scientists and Indigenous rangers, conducting marine environmental impact assessments, policy evaluation and improving resource management informed by science.
Rachel has an extensive network of collaborators across NT communities and technical streams. She collaborates with technical specialists and the appropriate community members and stakeholder groups on research programs to add value, influence, and provide rigour wherever possible.
Dr Rohan Fisher
Research Officer
PhD (Fire ecology, agent-based modelling), MA
- Landscape simulations for cross-cultural learning
- Learning through complex systems simulation games.
- Fire information training and communication for best practice fire management.
- Capacity building for the application of spatial information and local knowledge.
- Eastern Indonesian application for the decentralisation of tech skills for good governance.
- STEM and teaching through tactile/digital games.
Rohan has worked with satellite data and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for the last 30 years, initially for CSIRO in Canberra, and subsequently for the Northern Territory government in Alice Springs and Darwin. For the last 18 years, he has worked as a Research Fellow at Charles Darwin University/Darwin Centre for Bushfire Research (DCBR), focusing on GIS and Remote Sensing tools for natural resource management and good governance in Eastern Indonesian and best practice savanna fire management in Northern Australia.
His current research and training development work is focused on developing Projection Augmented Landscape Models & Fire simulations in Northern Australia, using low-tech tools to create dynamic spatial holograms of Country.
Dr Sigurd Dyrting
Research Associate
PhD (Physics), B. Sc.(Hons)
Demography and Growth Planning Team
: 08 8946 6738
: Casuarina campus, CDU
- Estimation techniques for small populations
- Creating software to help practitioners prepare key demographic inputs.
Sigurd specialises in applying mathematical, statistical, and computational methods to demographic problems. His current research is on estimation techniques for small populations, emphasising preparing inputs used by practitioners for demographic analysis and population projections.
Dr Tracy Woodroffe
Senior Lecturer - Indigenous Knowledges
Master of Education, Bachelor of Education, Diploma of Teaching
: 08 8946 6624
: Casuarina campus, CDU
- Indigenous education and leadership
- Knowledge systems
- Classroom practice and assessment
- Teacher education
Dr Tracy Woodroffe is a local Warumungu Luritja educator with extensive teaching experience and an Early Career Researcher with a growing track record. Dr Woodroffe is the lead researcher for this two-year project. Her research experience and focus are on educational pedagogy, identity, Indigenous perspectives, and the use of Indigenous Knowledges in educational contexts. Dr Woodroffe has been both a team member and the lead CI on numerous successful research projects, and past research has included research with and within the NT Department of Education. Her latest projects can be found on the First Nations Success website.
Alicia Boyle
Research Associate
M.Ed.
: 08 8946 7267
: Casuarina Campus, CDU
Alicia has worked in VET/TAFE/HE education, training, management and research for 30 years. She has been in Darwin with Charles Darwin University since 1999 and was the Education Coordinator for the Desert Knowledge Cooperative Research Centre for seven years. Alicia was the Chair of the Central Australian Education and Training Network (CAETN) for over eight years and has worked extensively in applied research with key interests in education, technology for learning, and workforce planning and development in regional and remote areas.
Cara Donohue
Research Fellow
BA Anthropology, MA International Development
Realist Research Evaluation and Learning Team
: 0423 475 977
: Melbourne, VIC
- Realist research and evaluation
- Evaluation use
- Design, Monitoring and Evaluation in International Development
- Participatory Approaches to International Development
Cara Donohue has been a research associate with RREALI since October 2020. She specialises in evaluation, research, and program design, mainly using realist and theory-based approaches. Cara has a work background in the international and community development fields and has worked in university, international and domestic NGO settings. She has experience with programs serving at-risk youth, low-income, disabled, refugee, Indigenous, and rural populations.
Pawinee Yuhun
Research Associate
Bachelor of Applied Science in Architectural Science
: 08 8946 7465
: Casuarina campus, CDU
Pawinee joined the Northern Institute (NI) in 2012. Before joining NI, she was a research associate working with the Social Partnerships in Learning research group at the School of Education. Since joining NI, Pawinee has worked on a number of projects with research teams, such as Demography and Growth Planning, Northern Futures, Evaluation and Knowledge Impact, and Contemporary Indigenous Knowledge and Governance.
Sharna Motlap
Research Fellow - Indigenous Engagement
Bachelor of Nutrition
: Casuarina campus, CDU
Casual Researchers
Aasish Adhikari
Casual Researcher with the Landscape Knowledge Visualisation Lab
Dr Amanda Lilleyman
Casual Researcher with the CSIRO Team
: CDU Casuarina Campus
Research Interests: Ornithology • Shorebird Identification and Survey • Land and Project Management • Conservation and Climate Change
Amanda completed her PhD at Charles Darwin University, researching migratory shorebirds in Darwin Harbour. Amanda is interested in how shorebirds use habitat on the non-breeding grounds and works with industry to apply research findings to on-ground management of birds, so they receive the best conservation advice possible. She is passionate about community engagement and education about Top End birds, and her most recent publication is: Variation in Space use between sites, years and individuals for an endangered migratory shorebird has implications for coastal planning.
Angelina Aquino
Casual Researcher with the Top End Language Lab
: 08 8946 7960
: CDU Casuarina Campus
Angelina Aquino is a PhD student at the Northern Institute at Charles Darwin University. She obtained her M.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of the Philippines Diliman, where she investigated and co-advised projects on speech processing, machine translation, and linguistic analysis for Philippine languages. She is broadly interested in pursuing interdisciplinary research that supports local knowledge transmission, Indigenous governance, and community-led design.
Dr David Karacsonyi
Casual Researcher with the Demography and Growth Planning Team
: 08 8946 7457
: CDU Casuarina Campus
Research Interests: Spatial analysis, GIS and thematic mapping of population trends • Construct, manage, manipulate and maintain demographic and labour market databases • Intersect different data sources such as ABS Census and Table Builder data with NT government and Geoscience Australia data to provide new insights into spatial relations • Assessing spatial data and its limitations in the remote and sparsely populated context
David completed his first PhD studies at Eötvös Loránd University (Budapest, Hungary) in 2009 and his second at Charles Darwin University in 2023.
David is interested in the geography of remote, peripheral and rural areas. While he has a strong quantitative approach to analysing spatial processes and relations, his aspiration is to assess empirical results and data limitations in a social and cultural context. His PhD, for example, was related to the understanding of the human–geography nexus behind the existence of sparsely populated regions such as the Australian ‘Outback’.
Porni Mollick
Sam Williams
Research Associate
: 08 8946 7003
: CDU Casuarina Campus
Research Interests: Indigenous knowledge and Indigenous institutions • Homelands policy and the spatial arrangements of remote living • Affective dimensions of relationship to Country • Archiving and repatriation •The history and legacy of anthropology in northern Australia • Ethnography, STS, political ecology • Property relations, land tenure and land rights.
Sam is a PhD candidate and research associate at the Northern Institute with a background in anthropology. Prior to commencing his PhD, Sam worked for four years as an anthropologist at the Northern Land Council.
Sam is engaged in a collaborative research project with senior Indigenous elders living in Maningrida that aims to reinvigorate relationships with a host of significant named places on the coast of north-central Arnhem Land. As commissioned by these elders, Sam is supporting the creation of an archive of video materials recorded at and with these places. Sam’s research asks how affective relationships to ancestral land and sea are expressed and experienced in Maningrida, and explores the various forces and institutions mediating contemporary people-place relationships.
Sebastian Lowe
Casual researcher with the Centre for Creative Futures
PhD candidate supervised by Professor Jen Deger
: James Cook University/Aarhus University
Sebastian J. Lowe (Ngā Tāngata Tiriti) is an anthropologist, musician and filmmaker from Aotearoa, New Zealand. He is interested in sound worlds, particularly ngā taonga puoro (traditional Māori instruments), creative research methods, community research and research ethics.
Viktor Baskin
Casual research with the Centre for Creative Futures
: PhD Researcher at the James Cook University/Aarhus University
Victoria Baskin Coffey (Viktor Baskin, they/them/enby) is a Visual Anthropologist with an enduring interest in the ways that images make the world.
They are the Visual Editor of "Feral Atlas: The More-than Human Anthropocene", Editor of Curatorium for the Australian Anthropological Society (special issue forthcoming) and the Co-Curator & Founder of the art and anthropology collective, otis (www.otismakers.com).
Viktor is currently curating the "Feral Atlas" project (an interactive, open-access website) for public exhibition around the world alongside Prof. Jennifer Deger. This work has been recognised in the top 20 of Art Review's Power 100 list of the most influential art figures in the world and was released by Stanford University Press (www.feralatlas.org). Viktor's ongoing collaborations with Prof. Jennifer Deger have led them to join Miyarrka Media, an arts collective based in the Yolŋu community of Gapuwiyak in Northern Australia.
While working across these worlds, Viktor is also currently completing their own PhD research exploring the digital-visual image practices amongst transgender, gender nonbinary, & gender variant communities of Southern India.