News

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

EYC2022 Announce MCs

Welcoming Mitchell Sheppard

Circular Economy FNQ by Irene Pollak

New handbook challenges dominant development paradigm

IRSA2022 back on track

National Research Institute of Papua New Guinea

Exploring the historical linguistics of endangered languages

Containers of Culture

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

Seagrass Seminar Series

Social Enterprise Summit for Northern Australia [SESNA 2021]

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

Psych Research Bites

Mosman Botanic Gardens: first installation

PhD Intro Kula Kalinoe

Changing rural economies

Torres and Cape Disaster Resilience Forum

TEDxJCU Cairns update

Digital Transformation in a Post Covid World

Social Science for the Reef: Inaugural Symposium

Leading from the North

Mindfulness and Mental Health in the Time of the Pandemic

Seeking expressions of interest from Masters/Honours students

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

Moving in the Rights direction

Spotlight on Dr Fiona Allison

The Litterateurs Rainforest Retreat for Academic and Creative Writers

2021 Cairns NAIDOC Week Breakfast

TCICA Digital Connectivity

PhD Intro Elizabeth Smyth

Creating Futures Online Conference 2021

Publication of Malaria Elimination Open Access Resources

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

Cape York Dynamic Business Symposium

My journey by Fiona Wirrer George Oochunyung

Cairns Early Years Digital Symposium 2021

CRC Pulse of the Community Survey

Kristine Van Dinther invited by the HAU

PhD Intro Teddy Winn

Mobilising Indigenous Knowledge into Action

TNQ Hub Announcement

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

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

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

Language preservation: Doromu-Koki

Apply Now: Global Green Business Ideas Competition

Northern Australian Savanna Fire Forum

Cairns South Community Champions

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

Delivering research findings to Northern stakeholders

Backseat Books

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

Feral Atlas ranks 15 in Power 100

Celebrating Indigenous Voices

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

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

Feral Atlas: The More-Than-Human Anthropocene

Phone and Spear

Call to smarten up Northern Australia’s agricultural supply chains

JCU scoops the pool in national video competition

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

Toku Fenua Tuvalu - Project

Mossman Botanic Gardens taking shape

Agricultural futures: growing with technology

JCU at Istanbul Biennial

Dances with Cranes

Clean Growth Choices

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

Examination of the Bradfield inland irrigation scheme

Disquiet: Ecological Anxieties & Transformations

Cairns South Collective Forum in July

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

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

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

Ironic twist wraps up PhD

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

Addressing inclusive and sustainable economic development across a global stage

Please help us maintain a beautifully restored Kubirri Creek

Cairns South community come together to make a Collective Impact