ARC Centre of Excellence - Indigenous & Environmental Histories & Futures
Vincent Backhaus
- Senior Research Fellow
- vincent.backhaus@jcu.edu.au
Geraldine Mate
- Adjunct Senior Research Fellow
- geraldine.mate@jcu.edu.au
Sean Ulm
- Director, ARC Centre of Excellence for Indigenous and Environmental Histories
- sean.ulm@jcu.edu.au
SahulSED Radiocarbon, SahulCHAR, and OCTOPUS Future Proofing (Old ID 27819)
Sean Ulm
05 Dec 2022 - 31 Dec 2023
The project will engage a full-time postdoctoral fellow for 12 months to compile fire proxy data for the new data collection SahulCHAR, to oversee the data collection of environmental radiocarbon ages for SahulSED, and to lead the development of resources for the maintenance and community-led updates of these collections. The postdoctoral fellow will lead the E&E activities and support the RT&E activities described below and will update existing collections as needed. Results will be included in a series of planned papers to coincide with the launch of the new collections.
Developing accurate trans-holocene coastal and ocean chronologies: Resolving fundamental problems in the dating of marine shell in the tropics (Old ID 19919)
Sean Ulm
18 Feb 2013 - 17 Feb 2017
Archaeological and quaternary science in tropical Australasia is heavily reliant on radiocarbon (14C) ages on marine materials. However, radiocarbon ages obtained on marine samples are not directly comparable to contemporaneous terrestrial samples owing to variability in the way 14C is distributed in marine environments (the 'marine reservoir effect'). Marine reservoir effects are highly variable and can introduce uncertainties of up to several hundred years into ages obtained on marine samples, creating a key obstacle for advancing archaeological, sea-level and climate change research. This project establishes a reliable model of marine reservoir effects across tropical Australasia that can be used to calibrate marine 14C ages.
The Deep History of Sea Country: climate, sea level and culture (Old ID 22582)
Sean Ulm
15 Feb 2017 - 14 Feb 2020
This is a pioneering, multi-disciplinary study of submerged landscape archaeology in Australia designed to investigate the records of the now-submerged Pilbara coast (spanning 50,000 to 7000 years ago). Information from drowned contexts will help address critical debates in Australian prehistory relating to past sea-level rise, population resilience, mobility, and diet. The project integrates cultural and environmental studies and contributes a unique southern hemisphere insight into world prehistory through material analysis and an adaptation of method from the world’s only confirmed submarine middens. A suite of cutting edge marine and aerial survey techniques will be developed to investigate physical and cultural submerged landscapes.
ARC Centre of Excellence for Indigenous and Environmental Histories and Futures (Old ID 27585)
Sean Ulm
01 Jul 2024 - 30 Jun 2031
ARC Centre of Excellence for Indigenous and Environmental Histories and Futures. The proposed Centre aims to generate a new direction in knowledge creation based on Aboriginal- and Torres Strait Islander-led approaches to managing Land and Sea Country. The Centre expects to make a legacy contribution by developing complementary Indigenous and Western knowledge frameworks for modelling environmental, cultural, and historical change in Australia over the last millennium and into the near future. Expected outcomes focus on sustainable Indigenous land and sea management planning for future decades. Benefits include improved forecasting of the trajectory of environmental change, an increase in the capacity of Indigenous research, creation of a pipeline for Indigenous students into research, and evidence-based policy-making.
International Travel Support - INQUA 2019 (Old ID 26424)
Sean Ulm
04 Apr 2019 - 01 Sep 2019
Funding to support international travel to attend and present at the 20th International Quaternary Association Congress in Dublin, Ireland. Oral presentation of PhD results in palaeoenvironmental science.
CABAH Cadetship Scheme: Research management cadetship (Old ID 28930)
Sean Ulm
05 Apr 2023 - 10 Jan 2024
Magdalena will be trained in research management at the Reef and Rainforest Research Centre (RRRC), a non-profit organisation in Cairns. She will gain experience in research-informed conservation, government policy development, and community economic development in the tropics (Northern Australia, the Torres Strait Islands, and Papua New Guinea).
ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage (Old ID 22972)
Sean Ulm
30 Jun 2017 - 30 Apr 2025
This Centre will create a world-class interdisciplinary research programme to understand Australia's unique biodiversity and heritage. The Centre will track the changes to Australia's environment to examine the processes responsible for the changes and the lessons that can be used to continue to adapt to Australia's changing environment. The Centre will support connections between the sciences and humanities and train future generations of researchers to deal with future global challenges and inform policy in an interdisciplinary context.
A national facility for the analysis of pyrogenic carbon (Old ID 23352)
Sean Ulm
01 Jan 2018 - 31 Dec 2018
This project will develop a National Facility for Pyrogenic Carbon Analysis. Pyrogenic carbon (biochar, soot, charcoal, black carbon) is a poorly constrained, slow-cycling terrestrial carbon pool with significant carbon sequestration potential. It is also an important source of palaeoenvironmental and geochronological information. We will expand newly developed hydrogen pyrolysis analytical capability to provide high throughput, robust, measurement of the abundance and isotope (13C, 14C) composition of pyrogenic carbon in soils and sediments. The facility will advance multiple research agendas at nine participating institutions across palaeoecology, geomorphology, geochronology, archaeology and carbon cycle/ sequestration science
Constructed Seascapes of the Lizard Island Group, Far North Queensland (Old ID 27473)
Sean Ulm
01 Apr 2022 - 31 Mar 2023
This research investigates the distribution and construction of Indigenous stone arrangements in the Lizard Island Group, far North Queensland. Previous intensive pedestrian surveys of the islands have identified almost 1000 stone arrangements, with an additional 200 recorded during the recently completed 2021 season. Interpreting the distribution and construction of these stone arrangements will be undertaken on a cultural landscape scale to interpret the organisation of socio-religious activities on within the Lizard Island Group.
Fire and Environmental Change in Northern Australia during the Late Holocene (Old ID 23372)
Sean Ulm
01 Jul 2017 - 30 Jun 2019
This project addresses the lack of palaeoenvironmental and palaeofire records available for northern Australia. I will analyse both micro-(<125µm) and macroscopic (>125µm) charcoal from sediment cores collected from lacustrine sites in Cape York and Arnhem Land. I will also analyse modern charcoal collected in fire traps placed during fieldwork to create a modern analogue. Collaboration with AINSE/ANSTO will result in a high-resolution chronology for each site, with implications for the wider region.
Australia's coastal living is at risk from sea level rise, but it's happened before
- 2018
- The Conversation Media Group
- Researchers:Sean UlmStephen Lewis
How to get to Australia … more than 50,000 years ago
- 2018
- The Conversation Media Group
- Researchers:Sean UlmRob Beaman
Reseracher:
Sean Ulm
(Director, ARC Centre of Excellence for Indigenous and Environmental Histories)
Start Date:
01 Jan 2023
Reseracher:
Sean Ulm
(Director, ARC Centre of Excellence for Indigenous and Environmental Histories)
Start Date:
01 Jan 2015
Reseracher:
Sean Ulm
(Director, ARC Centre of Excellence for Indigenous and Environmental Histories)
Start Date:
01 Jan 2011
Reseracher:
Sean Ulm
(Director, ARC Centre of Excellence for Indigenous and Environmental Histories)
Start Date:
01 Jan 2023
Reseracher:
Sean Ulm
(Director, ARC Centre of Excellence for Indigenous and Environmental Histories)
Start Date:
01 Jan 2023
End Date:
01 Jan 2024
Reseracher:
Sean Ulm
(Director, ARC Centre of Excellence for Indigenous and Environmental Histories)
Start Date:
01 Jan 2006
End Date:
01 Jan 2015
Reseracher:
Sean Ulm
(Director, ARC Centre of Excellence for Indigenous and Environmental Histories)
Start Date:
01 Jan 2013
End Date:
01 Jan 2016
Reseracher:
Sean Ulm
(Director, ARC Centre of Excellence for Indigenous and Environmental Histories)
Start Date:
01 Jan 2018
End Date:
01 Jan 2018
Reseracher:
Sean Ulm
(Director, ARC Centre of Excellence for Indigenous and Environmental Histories)
Start Date:
01 Jan 2019
End Date:
01 Jan 2022
Reseracher:
Sean Ulm
(Director, ARC Centre of Excellence for Indigenous and Environmental Histories)
Start Date:
01 Jan 2015
End Date:
01 Jan 2016