ARC COE for Indigenous and Environmental Histories and Futures

6th National Indigenous Empowerment Summit Breaking down barriers and creating opportunities for sustainable pathways to self-determination

6th National Indigenous Empowerment Summit
9–12 June 2026 | Pullman King George Square, Brisbane

The 6th National Indigenous Empowerment Summit brings together leaders, educators, entrepreneurs and change-makers. Find out more and register at the link below!

indigenousempowermentsummit.com.au

Congratulations to Professor Felecia Watkin Lui (JCU), Professor Janelle Stevenson (ANU), and Professor Alana Grech (JCU) on your recent promotions to Full Professor!

We are proud and grateful to work alongside such outstanding scholars and change-makers within the CIEHF community.

Congrats to CIEHF collaborators Nyoka Hrabinsky, Jacob Wilson and Siobhan Singleton
We’re thrilled to celebrate Nyoka, Jacob and Siobhan at JCU & CSIRO's Australian Tropical Herbarium for winning the 2024 JCU Research Excellence Award!

Along with 6 other researchers this program runs until 2035.

CIEHF was proud sponsor of 'Submerged Landscape Archaeology' Workshop for Traditional Owners at this year’s AAA conference in Fremantle.
Pictured here, AI Professor Jonathan Benjamin and AI Dr Chelsea Wiseman from Flinders University shared their research on submerged cultural landscapes.

So grateful to reconnect with members from far and wide and a privilege to do so on beautiful Gunditjmara Country in Portland, Victoria for our 2025 Symposium. Thank you again to our hosts from Gunditj Mirring Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation RNTBC for all that you shared with us.

We are feeling incredibly grateful and energised this week on beautiful Gunditjmara Country.

Deepest thanks to GMTOAC for hosting us and for everyone for travelling from far and wide to join together again. We even managed to have the sunshine breakthrough for this lovely group shot!

Last week, Dawul Wuru Aboriginal Corporation and CIEHF delivered a two-day Cultural Heritage Training Short Course between JCU Nguma-bada campus and Kewarra Beach, on stunning Yirrganydji Country.

We look forward to seeing more of these training opportunities offered around the country in 2026.

We’re still soaking in the incredible energy from the Working on Country Masterclass, held last week in partnership with the Indigenous Education Research Centre at JCU.

Thank you to everyone who made this gathering a success – and to Yirrganydji Country for putting on such stunning weather! ☀️

03 | Larissa Behrendt: Justice, ideas, inclusion - ABC listen Larissa Behrendt, AO a Euahleyai/Gamillaroi woman and Distinguished Professor of Law and Inaugural Chair in Indigenous Research at the University of Technology, is passionate about the Australian cour...

Missed hearing this episode yesterday? You can now listen to the third deeply thoughtful 2025 Boyer Lecture online.

This engaging talk explores how the law can be a force for both inclusion and exclusion.

Tune in here: www.abc.net.au/listen/progr...

The IUCN World Heritage Outlook 2025 rates K’gari as “Good with Some Concerns.” We back Butchulla-led management to protect its values. Read more about the IUCN's listings here: worldheritageoutlook.iucn.org

#Kgari #ButchullaCountry #CIEHF #CaringForCountry #IUCN2025 #WorldHeritage

Research Fellow - Canberra / ACT, ACT, Australia Classification:  Research Fellow Level BSalary package: $118,5632 – $134,507 per annum (pro-rata) plus 17% superannuationTerm: Part-time (up to 21 hours per week), Continuing (contingent Funded) This ...

ANU Research Fellow position!

We're looking for someone with a PhD in palaeoecology, geography or related field, who has experience with paleoenvironmental and archaeobotanical analysis. A familiar with sedimentology or geochemistry is also an advantage.

Apply now: jobs.anu.edu.au/jobs/researc...

Research Officer - Canberra / ACT, ACT, Australia Classification:  ANU Officer 5/6 (Research)Salary package: $85,434 – $100,378 per annum (pro-rata) plus 17% superannuationTerm: Part-time (4 days a week, hours negotiable), Continuing (Contingent Fund...

We're hiring!!
Applications now open!
Join CIEHF at ANU as a Research Officer 🌿
Location: Canberra, ACT
Part-time (4 days/week) | Applications due by 2 Nov 2025
$85,434 – $100,378 p.a. (pro rata) + 17% super

Learn more & apply at ANU Jobs
or follow the link here: jobs.anu.edu.au/jobs/researc...

International Open Access Week International Open Access Week is held annually to inspire global momentum toward the open sharing of knowledge in order to address important social issues affecting people around the world. Open Acce...

International Open Access Week 2025
Oct 20-26
This year’s Open Access Week theme, “Who Owns Our Knowledge?”, asks us to consider just how knowledge is created, shared, and valued — and whose voices are included in that process.
www.openaccessweek.org
#OAWeek #OpenAccess #KnowledgeForAll #ARC #CIEHF

Marking half way of Indigenous Business Month 2025!

This year's theme, Strength Through Collaboration really reflects our values here at CIEHF. Thank you to all of our incredible Indigenous suppliers and businesses who have been on this journey with us so far.

www.indigenousbusinessmonth.com.au

CIEHF members and friends!
Today | SGEAS Seminar
Mon 13 Oct 2025
1:30 PM AEDT
Lecture Theatre 1

Dr Christopher Roos shares powerful new research including Western Apache (Ndee) cultural burning.

🔗 Zoom:https://unimelb.zoom.us/j/9840214167?pwd=b0FNa3dYeXg1WHVLZkRvZE9VRHhoZz09

Password: 074428

2025: Environmental Futures Seminar - Dr Frédérik Saltré - University of Wollongong – UOW Trait-Space divergence and the use of non-native mammals in conservation strategies

Today
Friday 10 October 2025
3:30PM – 4:30PM AEDT
Zoom link below
Join us for this insightful presentation by Dr Frédérik Saltré, Senior Lecturer at UTS and Chief Investigator with the ARC Centre of Excellence for Indigenous and Environmental Histories and Futures.

www.uow.edu.au/events/2025/...

🌿✨ Our spaces just got a whole lot more beautiful!

We're thrilled to now have Connections—the stunning artwork by celebrated Yirrganydji artist Karen Wallace (Mundejah)—adorning the offices of our Business Operations Team at James Cook University, Nguma-bada Campus, Smithfield.

Indigenous Literacy Foundation | Home The Indigenous Literacy Foundation (ILF) is a national charity of the Australian Book Industry, working with remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities across Australia.

www.ilf.org.au
📚✨ Today is Indigenous Literacy Day! ✨📚

This year’s theme, “Strength in our Stories: For Now & Future Generations,” reminds us of the power of storytelling in keeping knowledge, identity, and language alive.

We are thrilled to share that Dr Vincent Backhaus, CIEHF’s Manager of Research and Training, alongside Professor Stewart Lockie and Professor Andrew Day, has been awarded an ARC Discovery grant for their groundbreaking project:
“Caring for Country: Knowledge challenges to reconnecting with Country.”

🌊 CIEHF Gunditj Mirring Submerged Cultural Landscapes Workshop 🌊

CIEHF members joined Gunditj Mirring Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation staff for a day long workshop this week to explore priorities for Nyamat Mirring (Sea Country).

Photos at Tae Rak Aquaculture Centre 🐚

Principal Curator First Nations Cultures (Identified Australian First Nations) |   Brisbane Inner City | Are you a passionate leader with a deep commitment to First Nations cultures? Join our Cultures & Histories program and help enrich and enliven Queensland communities. As Principal Curator First Natio...

🌿 New Opportunity | Queensland Museum 🌿

Queensland Museum, is now recruiting a Principal Curator, First Nations Cultures (Indigenous Identified position).

🕒 Applications close: Tuesday 26 August 2025
📍 Location: South Brisbane, QLD
📄 Learn more and apply here: smartjobs.qld.gov.au/jobs/QLD-QM6...

Why suppressing all wildfires has made today’s megafires worse Satellites, drones and artificial-intelligence tools can improve fire management — but they must be informed by wildfire science, or we risk worsening the problem for decades.

Congratulations to CIEHF Chief Investigator Prof Jason Sharples (@UNSW) on his new Nature piece calling for science together with Indigenous knowledge to tackle extreme wildfires and protect Country.

Read full article here: www.nature.com/articles/d41...

#FireScience #IndigenousKnowledge #CIEHF

A big congratulations from all of us at CIEHF to Professor Martin Nakata on his appointment as Chair of the Northern Australia Indigenous Reference Group (IRG)

The IRG advises the Albanese Government on boosting economic and social prosperity for First Nations peoples across the north.

We were part of the world heritage listing of Murujuga. Here’s why all Australians should be proud Murujuga is Australia’s 21st world heritage property, but only the second property listed exclusively for its Indigenous cultural values.

Such great news and now this new @theconversation.com piece also explains why Murujuga’s World Heritage listing is so special. A win for Ngarda-Ngarli Custodians, 50,000+ years of care for Country, and all Australians.
🔗 theconversation.com/we-were-part...
#Murujuga #UNESCO #CIEHF #DeepTime

Great news from the World Heritage Committee in France. The world’s largest sand island will now be known globally by its Traditional name—K’gari.
This week the name K’gari was formally adopted in honour of the Butchulla people, who have cared for and belonged to this Country for over 60,000 years.

Dr Jacinta Walsh, a Jaru Kitja Yawuru woman & CIEHF Research Fellow, has been Highly Commended for the 2025 John Mulvaney Fellowship for her vital work on Indigenous archive access in the Kimberley. Honouring truth-telling, kinship & ancestral legacy. Congratulations! 🌿 #CIEHF #OnCountry #NAIDOC2025

UNESCO approves World Heritage bid for rock art amid emissions concerns The UNESCO has approved World Heritage status for the 50,000-year-old rock art of Murujuga, in Western Australia in Paris.

News from Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation and the Ngarda-Ngarli custodians on UNESCO World Heritage listing of the Murujuga Landscape!
Over 1 million petroglyphs are now recognised for their Outstanding Universal Value.
We honour the generations who made this possible.
www.abc.net.au/news/2025-07...

Melting ice will strengthen the monsoon in northern Australia – but cause drier conditions north of the Equator Sediments in a lagoon near Darwin hold traces of changes to monsoonal rains over 150,000 years. Here’s what it means as Earth’s polar ice melts.

Here is The Conversation piece just out involving some of our CIEHF researchers. Definitely worth a read. theconversation.com/melting-ice-...

Holocene hydroclimate inferred from alkane isotope and pollen records from monsoonal northern Australia Terrestrial proxy records of environmental change from the southern end of the coupled East Asian-IndoAustralian monsoon domain remain limited in numb…

🌧️ New research led by Prof Michael Bird reveals ancient pollen shows intense monsoon bursts in Aus tied to Northern Hemisphere ice melt. As the Gulf Stream weakens, we could see wetter north Aus & drier East Asia.
🔗 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Congrats to CIEHF AI Prof Kathryn Fitzsimmons on her ARC Future Fellowship! Her project will reveal how Australia's deserts formed—and what could reawaken them. Big data + climate models = resilience for dryland futures.
🔗 @MonashUni
#CIEHF #ARCFutureFellowship
Image taken on Bindal Country