Sean Ulm

Deputy Director, ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, James Cook University
Sean Ulm is Distinguished Professor of Archaeology at James Cook University and Deputy Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage. He completed his archaeological training at The University of Queensland where he was awarded a PhD in 2004. He has held previous positions at The University of Queensland and University of New England and was awarded an ARC Future Fellowship in 2011. He is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities, a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London, an Honorary Research Fellow of the Queensland Museum, an Honorary Fellow of the School of Social Sciences at The University of Western Australia and a Research Fellow of the Cairns Institute.

Sean’s research focuses on persistent problems in the archaeology of northern Australia and the western Pacific where his priority has been to develop new tools to investigate and articulate co-variability and co-development of human and natural systems. He is highly regarded for his coordination of multidisciplinary expertise in the investigation of the coastal archaeological record.

His work has been funded by the Australian Research Council, Australian Institute of Nuclear Sciences and Engineering, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, Australian Learning and Teaching Council and French Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique.

His publications include more than 100 refereed articles on the archaeology of Australia and 5 books. He has served as the Editor-In-Chief of Australian Archaeology (2006-2011), is a former President of the Australian Archaeological Association Inc. (2002-2003) and has served on the Australian Research Council College of Experts (2013-2016) and Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) Research Evaluation Committee (2018).

He is currently the Editor of Queensland Archaeological Research, and sits on the Editorial Boards of The Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology and Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society.

His contributions to archaeology have been recognised in the awarding of the Martin Davies Award for Best Public Archaeology Initiative (2007), Life Membership for Outstanding Contribution to the Australian Archaeological Association (2008), Bruce Veitch Award for Excellence in Indigenous Engagement (2014) and Rhys Jones Medal for Outstanding Contribution to Australian Archaeology (2017).