News

Kampus Merdeka - Independent Campus

James Cook University-The Cairns Institute and the State University of Malang during the past year, have conducted research on Merdeka Belajar Kampus Merdeka (Independent Campus Freedom to Learn). Pre...

OPEN NOW: $5,000 Scholarship Opportunities available to build regional and community resilience

Are you passionate about agriculture and want to help your community be resilient to our ever-changing climate? The TNQ Drought Hub is offering scholarship opportunities, up to the value of $5000, to ...

Reconciliation through Research

The TNQ Drought Hub was delighted to partner with Tropical Indigenous Ethnobotany Centre, the Australian Tropical Herbarium and the CSIRO to hold an event celebrating Reconciliation through Research. ...

JCU receives a share in over $350K grant funding

James Cook University (JCU) is one of four recipients to have received a share in $350,000 in funding, thanks to the TNQ Drought Hub’s Tropical North Queensland Drought Resilience Grant Scheme.&...

Congratulations to final cohort of TNQ Drought Hub Hone and Harvest teams

Congratulations to the final cohort of Hone and Harvest teams who have graduated from the TNQ Drought Hub’s business accelerator program in partnership with Farmers2Founders. Over the last 12 mo...

Do colours affect our emotions?

Associate Professor Heather Winskel writes from Singapore. "My very considerate dentist has purposefully painted his surgery in a calming light blue. I haven’t had the heart to tell him that it ...

TNQ Drought Hub unveils new artwork collaboration with local Indigenous artist

The TNQ Drought Hub has unveiled a new artwork as part of their way to acknowledge and pay respects to Indigenous knowledge, created in collaboration with Cairns artist and cultural practitioner, Bern...

Australian American Leadership Dialogue delegation to JCU

The Development in the Tropics team hosted a delegation of forty leaders from across Australia and the United States on Sunday 6 August as part of the Australian American Leadership Dialogue (AALD) 20...

Reconnecting Bremen and New Ireland

For many years, Cairns Institute Adjunct Professor Craig Alan Volker has documented the language and culture of the Nalik people of Papua New Guinea’s New Ireland Province. For a month from 17 A...

Sandpit to Seed

The TNQ Drought Hub is excited to be working with James Cook University researchers to help them move their research ideas that could improve agricultural adaption, sustainability and resilience towar...

The National Soils Advocate visit

The TNQ Drought Hub recently hosted the National Soils Advocate, the Honourable Penelope Wensley AC for a whirlwind 2-day field trip visiting numerous soils restoration and rehabilitation sites to lea...

Decolonizing HDR Network

On 1 August, The Cairns Institute hosted a small, informal symposium for HDR students working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in Far North Queensland. It brought together Indigenous...

JCU RED's Public Lectures

The Cairns Institute Fellow Dr Kearrin Sims coordinates the JCU Research Ethical Development Symposium, now in its second year. It will be held 27-29 September at The Cairns Institute. This year will ...

DNA Conference 2023

The Developing Northern Australia Conference returned to Darwin this year in 2023. In 2021, the conference converted to an online event an hour before the program was due to begin due to a sudden NT C...

HDR Student Symposium on Decolonial Research Practices

The Cairns Institute will host an informal symposium for HDR students working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in Far North Queensland. This symposium will explore if and how post-gr...

Science to Practice Forum

TNQ Drought Hub’s Professor Allan Dale, Doctor Jane Oorschot and Ms Kara Worth were invited to speak at the Science to Practice Forum and share their experience on innovative tools and practices...

TNQ Drought Hub Scholarships

Congratulations to the TNQ Drought Hub drought resilience scholarship recipients. The hub recently offered scholarship opportunities to JCU students who were interested in undertaking an Honours or Ma...

Collaboration Networks Help Asian-Pacific Reef Tourism Operators Adapt to Climate Change

Introduction: The rapid pace of climate change over the last century has affected ecosystems and people across the globe. Coral reefs are one of the most heavily impacted ecosystems. Many indust...

Australian educational development assistance in the Republic of Nauru

The Cairns Institute Research Fellow Dr Greg Burnett from JCU’s College of Arts, Society and Education, has recently returned from Nauru in the Central Pacific, where he spent 12 months as an Ed...

The First Inventors features JCU partnership research

The First Inventors is a ground-breaking 4-part documentary series exploring Indigenous knowledges and technologies across the Australian continent and extending for more than 65,000 years. The series...

PhD Intro Sara Mohamed

Sara is an Egyptian-Canadian PhD candidate who has found her way back to James Cook University. After completing a Bachelor of Arts Degree majoring in Sociology and minoring in Business, Sara came to ...

Dictionary & Coffee Tuesdays in New Ireland, Papua New Guinea

For the past year, Cairns Institute Adjunct Professor Craig Volker has been hosting “Nalik Dictionary Coffee Nights” every Tuesday at his home in Madina Village, New Ireland, Papua New Gui...

New TCI Research Services Manager

Her recent accomplishments include successfully managing a cross-institutional research project funded by a Department of Defence Strategic Policy Grant. Working alongside researchers from Griffith Un...

Economic Empowerment of Fiji Women and Girls

A ground-breaking Report (“Beyond 33%: The Economic Empowerment of Fiji Women and Girls”) by Professor Wadan Narsey (Adjunct Professor at James Cook University) was launched in March by th...

Western Cape Futures Symposium Update

The future of the Western Cape York region was the focus of the recent symposium in Weipa which attracted around 200 people attended across 2.5 days. To date, much of the focus on Northern Australia h...

International Outreach

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander International Engagement Organisation (ATSIIEO) has successfully begun its foray into the international sphere in advocacy of Indigenous responses to cli...

Falling From The Sky Symposium & Exhibition

The SymposiumAssociate Professor Robyn Glade-Wright convened the Falling from the Sky Symposium earlier this month on Nguma Bada campus at Smithfield. Participants were diversely represented; from aca...

Making Your Research Open Access

JCU Scholarly Communications Manager Jayshree Mamtora recently presented to The Cairns Institute researchers on why there is a strong global push from government, research agencies and funde...

Hello from Samoa!

PhD Candidate Tanya Volentras arrived into Samoa for fieldwork and sent us her reflections. Her supervisors are Professor Rosita Henry and Associate Professor Simon Foale. Arriving in the early mornin...

Memories of the Kiaps Project

A group of researchers at James Cook University (JCU), the University of Papua New Guinea (UPNG) and PNG’s National Research Institute (NRI) are seeking interested former kiaps (both Austra...

TNQ Hub Update

The Tropical North Queensland Drought Resilience Adoption and Innovation Hub (TNQ Hub), led by JCU, is paving the way to deliver drought resilience activities in tropical north Queensland. The TN...

Social Sciences for the Reef Symposium

In collaboration with the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA), University of Queensland (UQ), Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial ...

Asia Pacific Forum on Sustainable Development

The Cairns Institute Research Fellow Dr Kearrin Sims attended the 10th Asia-Pacific Forum on Sustainable Development (APFSD). Held 27-30 March, the APFSD is an annual, inclusive intergovernmental...

Congratulations Jim!

Jim Turnour celebrated receiving his PhD in Economics from JCU College of Business Law and Governance at the formal graduation ceremony held March 24 at the Cairns Convention Centre. After receiving h...

Dawul Wuru signs MOU

A Memorandum of Understanding for the establishment of a strategic partnership between The Cairns Institute at James Cook University and the Dawul Wuru Aboriginal Corporation (DWAC) was signed on the ...

Ellie Bock's journey

Following completion of her Master in Philosophy (Society & Culture) studies last year, Ellie Bock enjoyed the honour of participating in the recent Cairns JCU Graduation Ceremony held on 24 ...

John Hamilton

The Cairns Institute Adjunct Chair Professor is a Member of Australian Institute of Company Directors (MAICD), and the International Consortium for Electronic Business’ (ICEB) Regional VP (Austr...

Cairns Tropical Writers Festival

The Cairns Institute celebrates the literature of North Queensland at every opportunity, and the 2023 Cairns Tropical Writers Festival on 25-26 February was the ultimate literary rave-up. Massive crow...

Social Enterprise Forum

The Cairns Institute Research Fellow Dr Narayan Gopalkrishnan was one of the organisers of the Social Enterprise in Far North Queensland (FNQ) Forum held in Cairns, October last year. He said, “...

Meet Dwi Sugiharti

Dwi Sugiharti is currently undertaking her PhD in Economics under the supervision of Associate Professors Taha Chaiechi and Josephine Pryce at the College of Business, Law and Governance. She complete...

Industry Expert Series

The Tropical North Queensland Drought Resilience and Innovation Hub (TNQDRIH) has engaged with two leading industry experts Professor Roger Stone and Bob Shepherd to build a series of v...

Waiting with no time to wait

Young people are frequently relegated to a state of waiting; expected to passively absorb and learn an adult culture that actively damages the earth. Governments persist in relying on h...

Western Capes Futures Symposium

The TNQ Drought Hub, Sustainable Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Enterprise (SATSIE) program are pleased to partner with the Western Cape Chamber of Commerce, Aurukun Shire Counci...

Falling From The Sky

James Cook University Associate Professor and The Cairns Institute Fellow Robyn Glade-Wright is passionate about climate change and seeks to communicate with the greater public about en...

Our islands: protection and conservation

The Oceania region has an incredible array of ecosystems and biocultural diversity along with many threats to those. Safeguarding and effectively managing such ecosystems and the liveli...

Tyá Dynevor joins CoTS

Tyá Dynevor is a proud Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander mixed-race woman; born on Dharawal Country, Campbelltown, Greater Western Sydney but had grown up between Darwin, Larrakia&nb...

Ellie embarks on a PhD

Ellie Bock has been awarded a Masters degree after completing her Master of Philosophy (Society and Culture). Ellie’s primary advisor was Professor Allan Dale and her secondary advisor...

SATSIE 2022 Highlights

Allan Dale heads the TNQ Drought Hub team that sits within The Cairns Institute and delivers the Sustainable Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Enterprise (SATSIE) program. The SATSIE&nbs...

Engineers Without Borders Challenge Update

The Cairns Institute and the TNQ Drought Hub played host to the Engineers Without Borders (EWB) Challenge Showcase on December 10. The EWB Challenge design brief is developed based on a...

Rural Economies Centre of Excellence (RECoE) 2.0

RECoE is a first-of-its-kind rural economic research collaboration comprised of four Queensland Universities: The University of Queensland (UQ), James Cook University (JCU), Central Que...

Kampus Merdeka Program

The Cairns Institute (TCI) and the State University of Malang, in East Java, Indonesia, have collaborated in conducting an analysis on the student learning experience in Industrial Internshi...

Building Global Sustainability through local self-reliance

Allan Dale was one of the editors of a booked titled “Building Global Sustainability Through Local Self-Reliance: Lessons From Landcare”. The book was published with the Australi...

Understanding the Long-Term Sustainable Use of Australian Small Islands

Over two days in early December 2022, fourteen researchers from JCU, the University of Western Australia, Flinders University and the Australian National University gathered in Cairns from a range of ...

Indigenous Food & Business Expo

On November 16, the TNQ Drought Hub was pleased to support the Indigenous Food and Business Expo in Cairns. First Nations owned food and beverage and other businesses from throughout Qu...

Nature Feelz Symnposium

In December 4-8, The Cairns Institute Fellow, Dr Larraine Larri and JCU Doctoral Candidate, Nita Alexander participated in the Sydney Environment Institute, “Nature Feelz Symposium&rdq...

Special Issue on Climate Justice Education

The Cairns Institute researchers Associate Professor Hilary Whitehouse and Adjunct Professor Bob Stevenson were invited to edit a special issue of the Australian Journal of Adult Learning&nb...

TNQ Drought Hub Capacity-Building Forum

The TNQ Drought Hub, which has recently moved to The Cairns Institute, held a capacity building forum for its team members in late November. The two-day event saw over 30 participants l...

Plastic futures, or a better Anthropocene

A public event in the Cairns Museum was curated by Audio-visual Anthropologist Dr Daniela Vavrova; TCI Adjunct Research Fellow and the Cairns Museum’s curator. The event on November 25...

Straits Business: Action Today Impacts Tomorrow

As part of National Indigenous Business Month in October, the TNQ Drought Hub were pleased to partner with the Department of Senior Disability Services Aboriginal and Torres Strait Isla...

Indigenous Economic Development and Sustainable Livelihoods for Northern Australia

The Cairns Institute Research Fellow Dr Jim Turnour is celebrating after receiving his PhD investigating government policy and Indigenous economic development and sustainable livelihood...

Mosman Botanic Garden signs MOU with JCU

The Mossman Botanic Garden (MBG) has signed a formal Memorandum of Understanding with James Cook University (JCU) and is progressing to implementing stage one of the garden project earl...

Engineers Without Borders Challenge Showcase

On December 10, the TNQ Drought Hub, Sustainable Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Enterprise Program and The Cairns Institute (TCI) will host the Engineers Without Borders (EWB) Showcase&nbs...

Draft protocols developed

Discussions are proceeding with The Cairns Institute (TCI) about supporting a cultural knowledge and science database with Traditional Custodians of the Wet Tropics biocultural region. ...

Wet Tropics and Rainforest Aboriginal People (RAP)

The Cairns Institute (TCI) is partnering with Rainforest Aboriginal People (RAP) in progressing the management of the Wet Tropics biocultural region to help protect and enhance cultural and ...

Woven Stories

James Cook University anthropologists were delighted to have the opportunity in late 2022 to collaborate with the Cairns Regional Council in a significant exhibition of artefacts from Papua ...

Building Social Enterprise Capacity in FNQ

Social Enterprise is an emerging sector in Far North Queensland, a sector that presents a number of opportunities to build more jobs and to address some of the serious ecological, social and...

Deadly Business 2032

Launched in Cairns on October 19 by Di Farmer MP, Queensland Minister for Employment and Small Business and Minister for Training and Skills Development, Deadly Business 2032 is a key a...

Re-Imagining the Australian Farm Novel

The Cairns Institute Postgraduate Research Fellow, Elizabeth Smyth, is breaking new ground in georgic literature with two new publications this month. The first is a chapter in Georgic ...

Evaluation Journal of Australasia Publication Award

The 2022 Evaluation Society Awards of Excellence had recently announced that they had awarded the Evaluation Journal of Australasia Publication Award to the Northern Land Council. The paper ...

Introducing Dom Orih

Dom Orih is undertaking his PhD in Education under the supervision of Prof Komla Tsey, Dr Rhian Morgan, and Dr Hyacinth Udah, at The Cairns Institute, James Cook University. He complete...

Waiben visit

In September, Jen McHugh visited Waiben (Thursday Island) as part of the TNQ Drought Hub, Sustainable Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Enterprise Program and her role as a Regional ...

ABC Top 5 Science

Dr Emma Rehn, a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Archaeology with The Cairns Institute, was selected as one of this year’s ABC TOP 5 Science. The program is a two-week residency run by ...

IERC Awards Night

The Annual IERC awards were held September 7 at the Ville in Townsville. The IERC awards night ceremony is an important night in the calendar to acknowledge the commitment across the un...

National Jobs and Skills Summit

JCU’s Allan Dale, Professor of Tropical Development at The Cairns Institute (TCI), was one of 146 participants invited to the Federal Government’s Jobs and Skills Summit, held Se...

Introducing Rebekah Lisciandro

Rebekah Lisciandro is passionate about developing her career in research, specifically in health sociology and health justice. Their goal is to help increase health equity, access, and reduc...

Social Work Placements in General Practice

Facilitating Learning and Improving Wellbeing Dr Ines Zuchowski, a Research Fellow at The Cairns Institute, and Ms Simoane McLennan led a North Queensland Public Health Network-funded resear...

QSEC FNQ Regional Activator

Jennifer McHugh is working with The Queensland Social Enterprise Council Ltd (QSEC) as the QSEC Activator for Far North QLD region. QSEC exists to support a vibrant, innovative and capa...

Scholarships for Indigenous women to succeed in STEM

In the late 1990s, when Dr Chris Sarra became the first Aboriginal principal of Cherbourg State School, he challenged the whole school community to have High-Expectations Relationships ...

Research for Ethical Development Symposium

On 13-14 July JCU’s Research for Ethical Development (JCU RED) group held its inaugural research symposium at the Cairns Institute via hybrid delivery mode. Over two engaging days...

Hunter's Reef Madness

Professor Ernest Hunter, an Adjunct with The Cairns Institute, recently published a book titled Reef Madness: Digging up the dirt on an Australian myth. The book centres on how for gene...

What’s in a name? Unearthing the origin of the ethnonym Ayoreo

Ayoreo is an indigenous language of the Zamucoan family spoken by about 4,500 people in northern Paraguay and southeastern Bolivia. Although we knew that the name Ayoreo means ‘people&...

The North provides for Australia’s economic future and prosperity

The annual Developing Northern Australia Conference was held in Mackay 6-8 July 2022. Allan Dale is the Chair of this long running Conference that provides a platform for networking and conn...

Award-winning Irish Poet coming to Cairns

Colm Keegan is described as, “One of the most important voices in contemporary Irish literature” by poet Kerrie O’Brien, and he is coming to The Cairns Institute, Australia...

John Hamilton

The International Consortium for Electronic Business’ Regional VP for Australasia and The Cairns Institute Adjunct Chair Professor John Hamilton delivered the Universitas Diponegoro (I...

A community undertaking, Tender FNQ

On Monday 8th August, The Cairns Institute hosted a film screening of ‘Tender’. It is a film that documents the story of a community building a way to create more meaningful and&...

IERC meets Flinders U

Coffee and collaborations were on the agenda when colleagues from the Indigenous Education and Research Centre and The Cairns Institute met with visiting researchers from Flinders Unive...

Development in the Tropics update

The Development in the Tropics team (DITT) recently completed workshops with the Commonwealth, Queensland, and Northern Territory governments for the Marine and Coastal Hub’s Regi...

Brain Health in the Tropics

The Cairns Institute has been a partner with the Creating Futures initiative since 2012. Creating Futures (CF) has evolved from a conference to a movement that seeks to harness experience,&n...

IRSA2022 visits Mossman Sugar Mill

Mossman Sugar Mill is the most northern raw sugar factory in Australia. Each year between June and November, they crush approximately 1 million tonnes of cane and deliver over 130 thous...

Herstory: Alisa Hasamoh

Alisa hails from Thailand and had been supervised by Distinguished Professor Stewart Lockie and Dr Theresa Petray. She submitted her thesis in 2018 and had to leave Australia for Thailand as...

Jane Oorschot

The Cairns Institute’s Research Fellow and recently appointed Building Human Capacity Lead for the TNQ Drought Hub, Dr Jane Oorschot attended the IRSA2022 XV World Congress of Rur...

World Congress finally meets in Cairns

After two years of postponement; restricted international borders, COVID-19 regulations and airline schedule disruptions, delegates converged onto Cairns for the XV World Congress of Rural&n...

Movement in The Streets

The Streets Movement Organisation (TSM) is an Indigenous community development organisation which provides programs, pathways and opportunities for the disconnected, forgotten and waywa...

Cross-sector collaboration for EYC2022

We know that supported parents are the key to bringing up great kids, which is why the theme “It takes a village to raise a parent” was chosen for the 2022 conference. The Nation...

Connecting people to country through education

The Cairns Institute’s Research Fellow, Dr Vincent Backhaus had the opportunity to speak with radio host Trevor Tim on Bumma Bippera Media’s TalkBlack in May. As one of very few ...

Anne Stephens

The Queensland Parliament’s Education, Employment and Training Committee met on the 23 May to conduct a briefing with industry experts in VET challenges, opportunities and deliver...

Welcome Shannon

Shannon Burns joined The Cairns Institute in March 2022. Previously, he had held positions with the Queensland Government’s Department of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Pol...

Introducing Ellie Bock

Ellie Bock is undertaking a Master of Philosophy (Society and Culture), and in April presented her pre-completion seminar: Prescient Custodians: Biocultural Ecological Economics and Res...

Pacific Women’s Political Empowerment

On 8 March 2022, Teddy Winn joined a small group of distinguished women scholars in Australia and PNG via zoom to discuss issues related to political and socio-economic empowerment of w...

Ed Johnson’s visit to Cairns

Ed Johnson visited The Cairns Institute in February to explore research opportunities after recently completing his PhD at the University of Sydney. The collaborative and meaningful nature&n...

The myth of non-interference: Chinese foreign policy in Cambodia

On 13 April 2022, The Cairns Institute’s Research Fellow Dr Kearrin Sims and Griffiths University PhD Candidate Sovinda Po delivered a joint presentation to The Australian National Uni...

UN International Decade for Indigenous Languages

On 15 March 2022, the Cairns Institute Adjunct Professor Craig Volker joined colleagues from Papua New Guinea (PNG) and Germany in an online panel discussion at the Lowy Institute Austr...

Unpacking interregional migration

Diana Castorina is currently completing her PhD in economics in the area of interregional migration in Australia where her overall research objective seeks to understand what makes people wa...

Developing Northern Australia 2022

Professor Allan Dale will chair the Developing Northern Australia (DNA) Conference for the eighth time in 2022. The conference will be held from 6 to 8 July 2022 at the Mackay Entertainment&...

New addition to the QSEC Board

Dr Narayan Gopalkrishnan has been appointed to the Board of Directors of the Queensland Social Enterprise Council (QSEC), the peak body for social enterprise in Queensland.Dr Gopalkrishnan, ...

STEM initiative at Parramatta State School

Parramatta State School (PSS) in collaboration with Wet Tropics Management Authority (WTMA) and James Cook University (JCU) recently held a field day for the Yellow Crazy Ant Eradicatio...

JCU RED is Founded

JCU’s Research for Ethical Development group – JCU RED – was established in late 2021 to promote ethical development research and ethical development practice. The work of ...

EYC2022 Announce MCs

Key stakeholders in this conference are Mission Australia, The Benevolent Society, Act For Kids, Education Queensland, Queensland Health, Wuchopperen Health, the Department of Children,...

Welcoming Mitchell Sheppard

The Cairns Institute welcomed its newest member; Mitchell Sheppard (pictured above) who joins the Tropical Development team led by Professor Allan Dale. The team includes Jennifer McHug...

Circular Economy FNQ by Irene Pollak

Irene Pollak (pictured above) speaks and writes passionately on the Circular Economy space in Far North Queensland. She is keen to get everyone onboard and has big plans in steering this&nbs...

New handbook challenges dominant development paradigm

A new handbook, The Routledge Handbook on Global Development, led by The Cairns Institute’s Dr Kearrin Sims (pictured above) is now published. The volume shows how processes and e...

IRSA2022 back on track

The XV World Congress of Rural Sociology was originally planned for 2020. When the global pandemic halted all travel, plans were put in place to postpone the congress to 2022. With PM M...

National Research Institute of Papua New Guinea

James Cook University (JCU) signed a five-year memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the National Research Institute of Papua New Guinea (NRI) on December 7 2021. NRI conducts independ...

Exploring the historical linguistics of endangered languages

The decade 2022-2032 was declared by UNESCO International Decade of Indigenous Languages. In a world threatened by the loss of linguistic and cultural diversity, the documentation of en...

Containers of Culture

Application of Anthropology in the Workplace: The Museum Context Students enrolled in AN2114 “Australia through Time and Place” had the opportunity in October 2021 to learn about...

Anthropology Research Seminar 2021: Researching Social Creativity and Global Transformation with and through Audiovisual Technologies

During 2021, the Anthropology Research Seminar was hosted by ALTAR (The Anthropological Laboratory for Tropical Audiovisual Research) based at the Cairns Institute. The Seminar brought ...

Seagrass Seminar Series

TCI’s Jennifer McHugh who is the Program Coordinator for Development of the Tropics was asked to present at the World Seagrass Association’s Seagrass Seminar Series in 2022. ...

Social Enterprise Summit for Northern Australia [SESNA 2021]

This year’s SESNA 2021 was held on the 12th of November and brought together policy makers, practitioners, academics and other stakeholders with an interest in social enterprise in Northern Aust...

Spirit, Story, Symbol: Indigenous Curating in the Queensland Rainforest

Tahnee Innes is a PhD student in Anthropology. Tahnee tells us that her thesis has now been examined, and she is looking forward to being conferred in December this year. Her research project set out ...

Psych Research Bites

The Psych Research Bites Series is initiated by the Psychology Research Committee and aims to celebrate our Department’s vibrant, innovative, and collaborate research culture. The series will pr...

Mosman Botanic Gardens: first installation

First installation at Mossman Botanic Garden as Professor Tim Entwisle accepts role as inaugural Patron. Two exciting events at the Mossman Botanic Garden this month: Work on the first installation o...

PhD Intro Kula Kalinoe

Kula is a Papua New Guinean PhD Student at JCU. She is supervised by Professor Rosita Henry, Dr. Michael Wood, Professor Elizabeth Spencer and Professor Sam Kaipu (UPNG). After growing up in Port More...

Changing rural economies

Professor Hurriyet Babacan is the Research Director for the Rural Economies Centre of Excellence (RECoE). RECoE is a first-of-its-kind rural economic research collaboration comprised of four Queenslan...

Torres and Cape Disaster Resilience Forum

The Torres Cape Indigenous Council Alliance (TCICA) hosted its second Indigenous Local Government Disaster Resilience Forum in Cairns on the 7th October. Facilitated by Professor Allan Dale, the forum...

TEDxJCU Cairns update

Our resident TEDxJCU Cairns curator, Jennifer McHugh writes an apology to the greater Cairns TEDx followers. ‘We’re sorry!! I know it’s been a while since you have heard from us. We ...

Digital Transformation in a Post Covid World

The year 2020 started with usual promises of technological advancements and a global economic rally that showed no signs of slowing down. Little did we know that, in a matter of weeks, our usual lifes...

Social Science for the Reef: Inaugural Symposium

The inaugural Great Barrier Reef's social science symposium bought together more than 200 scientists to discuss the role of social science in Reef management. The Reef social science symposium held in...

Leading from the North

Allan Dale was one of the editors of a recently released book lilted ‘Leading From The North.’ The book published by ANU Press, aims to improve public dialogue around the future of N...

Mindfulness and Mental Health in the Time of the Pandemic

A/Prof Wendy Li and Dr Daniel Miller are guest editors of the special issue. The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the world in unprecedented ways. This research topic aims to explore the impact of mindf...

Seeking expressions of interest from Masters/Honours students

Expressions of interest are sought for Masters or Honours students for the following project: Exploring responses to genetic reef restoration – This project will suit an Honours or Masters stude...

It's all about the people: Stewart Lockie on National TalkBlack Radio

On the 22nd of September Director of The Cairns Institute Professor Stewart Lockie spoke on National TalkBlack radio with Bumma Bippera Media’s legendary radio host Trevor Tim. Bumma Bipper...

Moving in the Rights direction

To successfully conserve nature requires empowered stewardship by Indigenous Peoples and local communities Debates about averting a global ecological emergency often focus on how much lan...

Spotlight on Dr Fiona Allison

Fiona completed a doctoral thesis in 2020 looking at First Nations access to justice in the area of race discrimination - an issue with significant impacts across all First Nations communities. Recour...

The Litterateurs Rainforest Retreat for Academic and Creative Writers

The Inspiration behind The Litterateurs Rainforest Retreat from Tony Castles PhD Candidate "Academic writing does not always come easily for many of us. Like all of us who are writing, I want to be su...

2021 Cairns NAIDOC Week Breakfast

The NAIDOC theme for 2021 is Healing Country, Healing the Nation. Throughout Australia, people are learning more and more about drawing on Aboriginal knowledges of Country and for manag...

TCICA Digital Connectivity

Participation in the digital economy provides a major opportunity to diversify regional economies, develop and improve global economic participation, improve workforce attraction and re...

PhD Intro Elizabeth Smyth

The Cairns Institute Research Fellow Elizabeth Smyth connects a forgotten novel set in the Wet Tropics Bioregion with the georgic mode of Virgil’s classical poetry in a paper to be pub...

Creating Futures Online Conference 2021

Over eighteen years, Creating Futures has evolved from a conference to a movement that seeks to harness the experience, expertise, innovation and goodwill to build the capacities necess...

Publication of Malaria Elimination Open Access Resources

Professor Peter Case recently published a set of open access resources in collaboration with the Malaria Elimination Initiative (MEI) and the University of California, San Francisco.The reso...

ReConnecting with GBR communities to achieve socially and culturally responsible Reef Restoration

Recently, a post-doctoral fellow from The Cairns Institute, Dr Gillian Paxton, travelled to Cooktown to join the Reef Restoration and Adaptation Program’s Indigenous Partnerships team ...

Cape York Dynamic Business Symposium

Cooktown provided the spectacular backdrop for the symposium held June 15-16 as part of the Cooktown & Cape York Expo. The Cairns Institute, led by Professor Hurriyet Babacan, in partner...

My journey by Fiona Wirrer George Oochunyung

My PhD Journey has been one of the most intense and yet empowering processes I have encountered throughout my academic growth and development. The academic rigours as demanded and acqui...

Cairns Early Years Digital Symposium 2021

The Early Years Conference (EYC) promotes the wellbeing of children and families by advancing collaboration and evidence-based practice and provides a platform to reflect multiple persp...

CRC Pulse of the Community Survey

The Cairns Institute are working with Cairns Regional Council to find out how residents have been impacted and continue to be impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic in our Pulse of the Community stud...

Kristine Van Dinther invited by the HAU

Adjunct Research Fellow with the Cairns Institute, Kristine Van Dinther, was happy to be invited by HAU: The Journal of Ethnographic Theory last year to share in the debate regarding th...

PhD Intro Teddy Winn

Hailing from Papua New Guinea, Teddy is a PhD Candidate in Political Science, College of Arts, Society and Education at James Cook University’s Townsville campus. He has a political sc...

Mobilising Indigenous Knowledge into Action

The Lowitja Institute in conjunction with the Indigenous Education and Research Centre and the Cairns Institute, held the first of a series of two day workshops for Aboriginal and Torres&nbs...

TNQ Hub Announcement

Earlier this year saw the announcement of the Tropical North Queensland Drought Resilience Adoption and Innovation Hub (TNQ Hub) based in Cairns and led by James Cook University. This h...

RRAP: An ambitious and inclusive research program to help the Great Barrier Reef

The Great Barrier Reef is the world’s largest living structure and an ecosystem of significant aesthetic, cultural, economic and ecological value. However, warming oceans are causing more freque...

Valuing the Contribution of Biodiversity to Papua New Guinea’s Economy and Livelihoods

UNDP Papua New Guinea, together with the national government, is partnering with James Cook University to account for the importance of biodiversity and ecosystem services in shaping Papua New Guinea&...

Launch of the Pacific Women’s Political Empowerment Research Group – International Women’s Day 2021

The Pacific Women’s Political Empowerment Research Group was launched by Professor Rosita Henry and Dr Lesley Clark as part of the International Women’s Day 2021, events at JCU. The Pacifi...

Language preservation: Doromu-Koki

Doromu-Koki is a Papuan language of Central Province, Papua New Guinea, nestled in the Owen Stanley ranges to the southeast of the capital, Port Moresby. It is home to approximately 2,000 speakers; ha...

Apply Now: Global Green Business Ideas Competition

Applications are now open for ClimateLaunchpad, the world’s largest and most successful cleantech and green business ideas competition. The competition is completely free of charge, and provides...

Northern Australian Savanna Fire Forum

Reported by Rebecca Pearse Holding a virtual forum might not have the buzz and opportunities that emerge from physically networking, spotting faces across the coffee lounge, re kindling or seeding new...

Cairns South Community Champions

A pilot program to encourage community to strengthen and cultivate community champions in Cairns South was recently delivered by the Cairns Institute and PCYC Safer communities. Jennifer McHugh throug...

Re-visualising the Past, Imagining the Future: Race, Governance and Development in PNG

Laurie Bragge’s gift of his personal archive of material concerning his life and work in Papua New Guinea (PNG) to James cook University was astoundingly detailed. Laurie was a "kiap"; patrol of...

Delivering research findings to Northern stakeholders

To finalise remote work and to enable further engagement with remote stakeholders and partners following COVID-19 lockdowns, many projects of the Northern Australia Hub (part of the Australian Governm...

Backseat Books

During the COVID lockdown period (April-June 2020) The Cairns Institute, as part of the Cairns South Collective Impact project, brought service providers together through informal online meetings. Thi...

Bobikíxh: An international online conference on the Indigenous languages of the Chiquitania

Organizers: José Chuvé, Luca Ciucci, Swintha Danielsen, María Pia Franco, Brittany Hause, Andrey Nikulin, Paula Peña, Ignacio Tomichá, Claudia Vaca....

Feral Atlas ranks 15 in Power 100

The London-based magazine ArtReview recently released their annual Power 100 list of the top influencers in the contemporary art world for 2020. The Cairns Institute's theme leader...

Celebrating Indigenous Voices

Every society and every human group thrives on telling stories, legends, and myths. The intricate fabric of every culture is reflected in how people talk to each other, and what they talk about. A leg...

Join a multi-institutional team of social scientists contributing to the RRAP

Three opportunities to be involved in this partnership; a multi-institutional team of social scientists contributing to the Reef Restoration and Adaptation Program (RRAP), Community Engagement Subprog...

Enhancing Women’s Position in PNG’s Protected Area Network

James Cook University has partnered with the United Nations Development Programme in Papua New Guinea to conduct a Gender Analysis and develop a Gender Action Plan for the Sustainable Financing of PNG...

Feral Atlas: The More-Than-Human Anthropocene

A digital experiment in multispecies storytelling, has just been released by Stanford University Press as an open access, interactive website. Feral Atlas invites you to explore the ecolo...

Phone and Spear

Right in time for Open Access week, Phone & Spear by Miyarrka Media has gone digital. It is now available to everyone as on MIT's Knowledge Futures Group platform Pubpub. The book stretc...

Call to smarten up Northern Australia’s agricultural supply chains

Northern Australia’s agricultural supply chains need an urgent shake up to fully capitalise on the region’s economic development opportunities – a new Cooperative Research Centre for...

JCU scoops the pool in national video competition

Picking up their cameras to answer the question “What is Anthropology?”, JCU postgraduate students took out two out of three prizes in the Australian Anthropological Society’s E...

COVID-19 and Young Australians - The long-term effects of a pandemic

Don’t take a gap year, stay engaged, work or study, was the advice from University of Melbourne researcher Dr Jenny Chesters for young people wondering what they should be doing to build positiv...

Toku Fenua Tuvalu - Project

Tuvalu is the smallest Pacific Island state, with a population of less than 13,000 people, predominantly Polynesian, located to the north of Fiji and immediately south of Kiribati. The former British ...

Mossman Botanic Gardens taking shape

A new Australian national tropical botanical garden is taking shape in Mossman, north of Port Douglas, with strong links to The Cairns Institute and James Cook University. The Mossman Botanic Garden w...

Agricultural futures: growing with technology

Drought, climate variability, biosecurity, global competition and consumer preferences are some of the greatest challenges facing Australian farmers, their impacts threatening our position among the m...

JCU at Istanbul Biennial

In September last year the 16th Istanbul Biennial officially opened, unveiling its theme of ‘The Seventh Continent’ to a packed room of cameras and international Press. The Cairns Institut...

Dances with Cranes

Dr Tim Nevard has just joined the Cairns Institute as an Adjunct Professor. His career has encompassed roles in corporate governance, business development, sustainability, policy and communicati...

Clean Growth Choices

Professor Allan Dale has led the Clean Growth Choices project which partnered with USQ, CSIRO and the Eco-Efficiency Group (the Clean Growth Choices Consortium) with funding from Queensland Government...

Reuniting a linguistic family: From the ancient Taino of the Caribbean to the modern Tariana of the Brazilian Amazon in the times of COVID 19

COVID 19 has swept across the world, wreaking havoc and affecting the most vulnerable and unprotected. With a ‘tropical Trump’ for a president and a precarious health care system for those...

Examination of the Bradfield inland irrigation scheme

Professor Allan Dale has been appointed to a three person panel to conduct a comprehensive State government examination of the Bradfield inland irrigation scheme. The panel will be chaired by Professo...

Disquiet: Ecological Anxieties & Transformations

The knowledge that, every year, millions of tonnes of plastic are discarded into the environment, and that plastic is found everywhere from deep ocean floors to high mountain ranges, gives rise to fee...

Cairns South Collective Forum in July

Led by Professor Allan Dale,the Cairns South Collective Impact Project, continues to connect and collaborate to improve outcomes for children in Cairns South. In July we held a forum including a prese...

Ever wondered what our curriculum teaches kids about climate change? The answer is ‘not much’

The following article was originally published in The Conversation on 19 September 2019, authored by Cairns Institute Research Fellows, A/Prof Hilary Whitehouse and Ms Larraine Larri. This story...

New book, Pil: Ancestral Stories of the Lihir Islands, launched in Papua New Guinea

A new book by TCI Research Fellow, Dr Kirsty Gillespie has recently been launched in Papua New Guinea. Pil: Ancestral Stories of the Lihir Islands is a collection of seven pil stories in Lihir and Eng...

Poor digital inclusion in FNQ is a barrier to economic and social development

New research by James Cook University explores the need to improve digital connectivity in Far North Queensland agricultural communities. Rural local governments and community organisations also need ...

Ironic twist wraps up PhD

Kristine Van Dinther explored the ethics of end of life decision making by examining the experiences of family members who were engaged with the care of a loved one with terminal cancer. She found tha...

The National Family Wellbeing Forum: Sharing stories on the journey to empowerment

This is a story about saving lives. It’s a story about regaining control. It’s a story about overturning generations of disempowerment. Above all it’s a story of hope. This is the st...

Addressing inclusive and sustainable economic development across a global stage

Approximately half the world’s population lives on the equivalent of US$2 a day with global unemployment rates of 5.7%. There is great need to rethink our social and economic policies aimed at e...

Please help us maintain a beautifully restored Kubirri Creek

On the northern outskirts of Mossman appears a line of riparian vegetation framed against the mountain backdrop. The vegetation is along the banks of Kubirri creek, a small seasonal tributary of the M...

Cairns South community come together to make a Collective Impact

Late last month, the Collective Impact project group held a workshop to update key stakeholders on the project progress and to also seek input into the update of the 2016 State of the Children Report....

Quicklinks

Kampus Merdeka - Independent Campus

OPEN NOW: $5,000 Scholarship Opportunities available to build regional and community resilience

Reconciliation through Research

JCU receives a share in over $350K grant funding

Congratulations to final cohort of TNQ Drought Hub Hone and Harvest teams

Do colours affect our emotions?

TNQ Drought Hub unveils new artwork collaboration with local Indigenous artist

Australian American Leadership Dialogue delegation to JCU

Reconnecting Bremen and New Ireland

Sandpit to Seed

The National Soils Advocate visit

Decolonizing HDR Network

JCU RED's Public Lectures

DNA Conference 2023

HDR Student Symposium on Decolonial Research Practices

Science to Practice Forum

TNQ Drought Hub Scholarships

Collaboration Networks Help Asian-Pacific Reef Tourism Operators Adapt to Climate Change

Australian educational development assistance in the Republic of Nauru

The First Inventors features JCU partnership research

PhD Intro Sara Mohamed

Dictionary & Coffee Tuesdays in New Ireland, Papua New Guinea

New TCI Research Services Manager

Economic Empowerment of Fiji Women and Girls

Western Cape Futures Symposium Update

International Outreach

Falling From The Sky Symposium & Exhibition

Making Your Research Open Access

Hello from Samoa!

Memories of the Kiaps Project

TNQ Hub Update

Social Sciences for the Reef Symposium

Asia Pacific Forum on Sustainable Development

Congratulations Jim!

Dawul Wuru signs MOU

Ellie Bock's journey

John Hamilton

Cairns Tropical Writers Festival

Social Enterprise Forum

Meet Dwi Sugiharti

Industry Expert Series

Waiting with no time to wait

Western Capes Futures Symposium

Falling From The Sky

Our islands: protection and conservation

Tyá Dynevor joins CoTS

Ellie embarks on a PhD

SATSIE 2022 Highlights

Engineers Without Borders Challenge Update

Rural Economies Centre of Excellence (RECoE) 2.0

Kampus Merdeka Program

Building Global Sustainability through local self-reliance

Understanding the Long-Term Sustainable Use of Australian Small Islands

Indigenous Food & Business Expo

Nature Feelz Symnposium

Special Issue on Climate Justice Education

TNQ Drought Hub Capacity-Building Forum

Plastic futures, or a better Anthropocene

Straits Business: Action Today Impacts Tomorrow

Indigenous Economic Development and Sustainable Livelihoods for Northern Australia

Mosman Botanic Garden signs MOU with JCU

Engineers Without Borders Challenge Showcase

Draft protocols developed

Wet Tropics and Rainforest Aboriginal People (RAP)

Woven Stories

Building Social Enterprise Capacity in FNQ

Deadly Business 2032

Re-Imagining the Australian Farm Novel

Evaluation Journal of Australasia Publication Award

Introducing Dom Orih

Waiben visit

ABC Top 5 Science

IERC Awards Night

National Jobs and Skills Summit

Introducing Rebekah Lisciandro

Social Work Placements in General Practice

QSEC FNQ Regional Activator

Scholarships for Indigenous women to succeed in STEM

Research for Ethical Development Symposium