To ensure my ideas and research reach a wide audience, I often give presentations. These range from the really enjoyable, less formal talks to interested community groups, especially in southeast Queensland (Australia) where I live, to the more formal international conferences where I get to chat to lots of people doing similar research to myself. Below you will find more details of some of the recent presentations I have given, a few with photos and recordings.
2024
On Friday 15th March, I gave a presentation at an action-packed meeting on ‘Ancient Sites and Traditions of Micronesia‘ at the University of Guam. My talk was on ‘Micronesian Stonework Productions in a Western Pacific Context‘ and here is the title slide.
If it sounds a bit dull, well far from it! Micronesian islands are famed for some of their stone constructions, made hundreds of years before Europeans reached this part of the world, and my argument is well, we have not paid as much attention to this as we should. For similar stonework exists on other western Pacific islands, such as those in Fiji and Solomon Islands. The picture below shows part of the Nan Madol megalithic site, built on 93 artificial islands off the coast of Pohnpei (Micronesia), alongside Roger Keesing’s 1964 shot of Sulufou Island, an artificial island in the Lau Lagoon, off Malaita (Solomon Islands). How could anyone not be amazed by such ancient monuments?
2023
With Rosie Kumar and Saula Nadokonivalu, I presented the outline of the Tikina Malomalo in Fiji, an area that we hope will become a ‘climate hub’ for the Pacific Islands, to the Third Global Gobeshona Conference in Dhaka, Bangladesh, in March 2023. This is how it started ..
The background shot is of the lazy Tuva River as it slowly meanders its way through the vast mangrove forests at its mouth. ‘Totoka dina saraga‘, as they often say in Fiji, ‘such a beautiful place’. Here is a picture of Saula and Rosie .. with Kalesi Cagibula in the centre.
Based on a report that Rosie and I researched and completed late in 2022, I gave a talk in January 2023 to a group of Australian government personnel about the value of Traditional and Local Knowledge in the Pacific Islands. Here is the title slide.
2022
As part of the annual Sustainability Week at the Fiji National University, I delivered a guest lecture on Traditional understandings of climatic and geological phenomena in Fiji: are they relevant to the future? Below is the title slide.
Following publication of my analysis of Scottish stories, most thousands of years old, recalling coastal land-sea movements in Scotland after the last ice age, I was invited by the Institute for Northern Studies at the University of the Highlands and Islands to give a talk on this topic. This gave me the opportunity to write this material up as a presentation and dedicate it to my late friend Michael Tooley, formerly Professor of Geology at the University of St Andrews. The recording of the talk is here – there was a great discussion after it, the title slide is below.
To mark the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, I gave a talk (with two Fijian co-authors, Taniela Bolea and Roselyn Kumar) at the Indigenous Knowledge Institute at the University of Melbourne on Traditional Knowledge in Fiji for Anticipating, Averting and Accommodating Environmental Risk. Recording here. We argue that in the three thousand years or so that people have lived on the Fiji Islands, they must have evolved sophisticated and effective ways of anticipating, averting and accommodating environmental risks like extreme weather and waves, volcanic eruptions and earthquakes. Juts because those ways are difficult to piece together today does not mean they never existed. Dan Bolea talks about his research on Kadavu volcanic eruptions and Rosie Kumar talks about how she grew up among elders who could ‘predict’ earthquakes. Here is the title slide.
Memories of Thin Places: The Deep Roots of Contemporary Ecoanxiety is the title of my keynote address to the annual Institute of Australian Geographers Conference in Armidale (NSW, Australia). Below is the title slide. In essence, I argue that contemporary stories about the spiritual associations of “thin places” (like Iona in Scotland) originated thousands of years earlier when inhabited places were submerged by (post-glacial) ocean-level rise and land loss was long lamented.
Sustaining memories of natural disasters in pre-literate societies, my talk at a conference in Naples (Italy) entitled “Hazard and Disaster Risk: Ostia and Portus between Hypothesis and Reality / Evento Naturale e Rischio di Calamità: Ostia e Porto tra Ipotesi e Realtà“. Below is the title slide, using as background a faded copy of the striking 1847 painting by Paul Kane of the eruption of Mt St Helens (northwest USA) that shows why some local residents thought it might have been caused by an eagle pecking at the mountain, causing it to bleed. The entire talk is online here (start at 51.51 minutes for my contribution).
Climate Change Adaptation in Asia-Pacific Islands: Insights from the IPCC 6th Assessment Report. My talk to people of influence in the field of climate change across the Asia-Pacific region stimulated considerable discussion. Below is my title slide with my photo of Ros Island, which has almost disappeared from the reef fringing Pohnpei Island.
Can Ancient Sea Level Rise Prepare Us for the Future? My discussion in the Pulsar Podcast series from the Boston Museum of Science comes online. With Eric O’Dea, it is available here.
Localization of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) through community-led ‘adaptation innovation’ in the Asia-Pacific region: needs and pathways. I joined a distinguished group of people to talk about innovative adaptation to climate change in the Asia-Pacific region. See graphic below.
2021
Losing Ground: The Trauma of Postglacial Submergence and Lessons for the Future, 2nd Neptune International Workshop, Italy, 2nd December 2021. Talk available here. Slide 1 below –
From the Edge of Memory: Eyewitness Accounts of Catastrophe Thousands of Years Ago from Australia, Europe and India, Seminar, Department of Archaeology, Tel Aviv University, 1st December 2021. The full talk (slide 1 below) is available on YouTube here.
Drowned Worlds: Submerged Lands in Science, Memory and Myth, Smithsonian Institution, 21st October 2021.
Worlds in Shadow: The Truths and Myths of Submerged Lands , Boston Museum of Science, 12th October 2021 – entire talk available here.
Traditional Understandings of Geological Phenomena in the Pacific Islands, Geological Society of Australia, 23rd September 2021. Entire talk can be viewed here.
Reflections on Metrics and Misunderstandings, USC School of Law and Society Research Day, 14th July 2021 – view pdf here.
Worlds in Shadow: Submerged Lands in Science, Memory and Myth, Edinburgh Science Festival, 7th July 2021 – view entire talk here.
Communicating Climate Change, Free Discussion at the MET Maroochydore on Saturday 19th June 2021, part of a USC Creative Futures event. Here is the flyer.
Stories of Catastrophe: Volcanic Risk Management in Oral Societies (Histoires de Catastrophe: Gestion des Risques Volcaniques dans les Sociétés de Culture Orale), 2e Colloque International “Vivre avec les phénomènes sismiques en Méditerranée et au-delà dans l’antiquité et le moyen-âge”, Le Mans Université, online [with Loredana Lancini and Rita Compatangelo-Soussignan, who tackled the French questions, 3rd June 2021]. First slide below
The role of earthquakes in changing patterns of Europe-India trade along the Malabar coast (Kerala, India) in the 14-16th centuries, (Le rôle des tremblements de terre dans l’évolution des modèles de commerce Europe-Inde le long de la côte du Malabar (Kerala, Inde) aux 14e et 16e siècles), 2e Colloque International “Vivre avec les phénomènes sismiques en Méditerranée et au-delà dans l’antiquité et le moyen-âge”, Le Mans Université, online [with Roselyn Kumar, 2nd June 2021]. First slide below.
Sociétés insulaires du Pacifique, tradition orale indigène et stratégies d’adaptation au risque de submersion, Webinaire interdisciplinaire du GIS d’Histoire & Sciences de la mer [with Loredana Lancini, who speaks French far better than me, 26th May 2021]. First slide below
Thinking outside the Box: Reframing Adaptation for Survival in Island Worlds, UNDP Jakarta and Islands and Small States Institute, University of Malta, Webinar on Innovative Responses to Climate Change in Island and Small States. Poster below, view on YouTube here.
Vanished Islands and Continents in the World’s Oceans, Public Lecture, Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey (see below). Entire talk available here.
2020
Pacific Pasts: Insights and Oversights, Keynote Address, 100th Anniversary of the Pacific Science Association, Honolulu, online [rescheduled to early 2021].
Original Histories: Indigenous Memories of Ancient Disasters and their Future Implications, University of Queensland Diamantina Institute (UQDI), 2020 NAIDOC Week Seminar, Brisbane (November). First slide below, entire presentation on YouTube here.
Indigenous Australian Memories of Post-Glacial Sea-Level Rise: Distribution, Nature and Implications, Australian National University (ANU) Centre for Environmental History and the Rediscovering the Deep Human Past Laureate Program, online webinar. [with Lynette Russell]. Screenshots below.
Risk and Resilience in the Pacific – Community Exposure and Response to Climate Change, 2020 Pacific Ocean Pacific Climate Change Conference (POPCCC), Samoa [with Linda Stevenson] – presentation available here.
Ancient Indigenous Observations and Memories of Land Submergence, INQUA SPLOSH 2020 Workshop (Southern Hemisphere Perspectives) online – recording available here. Screenshot below.
2019
Deferring the end of the world: insights from ancient Indigenous stories for coping with sea-level rise. New Earth Histories Conference, Sydney, Australia (December) – photo below.
Eyewitness accounts of rising sea level around Australia more than 7000 years ago. Closing Keynote Address, 28th Annual New South Wales Coastal Conference, Terrigal, Australia (November) – photo below
Looking back to the future: how ancient stories about past climate change might help us navigate the next few decades. Rotary Club of Mooloolaba, Mooloolaba Surf Club, Australia (October)
Confronting climate change in Australasia: past and present. University of the Sunshine Coast Climate Change Week, Buderim Tavern, Buderim, Australia (October)
Ancient memories, disappearing knowledge: Indigenous stories that remember events more than 7000 years ago. Royal Geographical Society of Queensland, Sunshine Coast, Australia (June)
Is Policy Necessary? A Climate Scientist’s Reflections on Climate-Driven Relocations in the Pacific Islands, Monash University Centre for Commercial Law and Regulatory Studies, Monash University, Australia (April) – photo below
Lessons From the Edge of Memory: How Millennia-Old Indigenous Responses to Climate Change Might Optimise Future Responses, Monash University Indigenous Studies Centre, Monash University, Australia (April)
Climate-Human Interactions in the Federated States of Micronesia, Public Talk, Conservation Society of Pohnpei (Island Palms Hotel, Kolonia), Pohnpei, Federated States of Micronesia (March)
2018
Thinking Big: Indigenous Memories of Ancient Events, Friday Environment Forum, Noosa Parks Association, Noosaville, Australia (November)
Climate change and faith in the Pacific Islands. Griffith University, Multi-Faith Centre, Brisbane, Australia (November) – presentation available here
Improving the Effectiveness and Sustainability of Climate-Change Adaptation Outcomes in the Pacific Islands: A Role for Faith-Engaged Approaches? Griffith University Climate Change Response Program, Gold Coast, Australia (August)
Failing adaptation in island contexts: the growing need for transformational change. Opening Keynote Address, Symposium on Dealing with Climate Change on Small Islands, Hannover, Germany (July) – photo below
Barriers have two sides: the challenges of transformational adaptation in island contexts. Keynote Speech, Adaptation Futures 2018, Cape Town, South Africa (June) – photo below
Whose Dreaming? Ancient Stories as Memories not Fiction. The Thomson Oration, Royal Geographical Society of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia (May)
Histoires antiques sur les terres submergées: exemples de l’Australie et des Îles du Pacifique comparées à celles de la Bretagne (Ancient stories about submerged lands: examples from Australia and the Pacific Islands compared to those from Brittany). Centre de Recherche en Archéologie, Archéosciences, Histoire (CReAAH), Université de Rennes 1, France (April)
Changements côtiers Holocènes rappelés dans les histoires anciennes: exemples de l’Australie, du Pacifique Sud-Ouest et du Nord-Ouest de la France (Holocene coastal change recalled in ancient stories: examples from Australia, the Southwest Pacific, and Northwest France). Faculté des Lettres et Langages, Université de Nantes, France (April)
Améliorer la préparation aux catastrophes et l’adaptation au changement climatique en Australie et dans les îles du Pacifique: le rôle des histoires anciennes (Improving disaster preparedness and climate-change adaptation in Australia and the Pacific Islands: the role of ancient stories). Faculté des Lettres, Langues et Sciences humaines, Université du Maine, France (April)
Climate-Human Interactions in Fiji. Ministry of iTaukei (Indigenous) Affairs, Government of Fiji, Suva, Fiji (January)
2017
When Our Ovens Filled with Water: Aboriginal Recollections of Volcanic Activity in Australia. Friday Environment Forum, Noosa Parks Association, Noosaville, Australia (October) – talk is available on YouTube here.
When the Bullin Shrieked: Aboriginal Memories of Volcanic Eruptions in Australia Thousands of Years Ago. Mary Cairncross Rainforest Discovery Centre, Glasshouse Mountains, Queensland, Australia (August) – photo by Dr Lisa Ryan below.
Maladaptation in Pacific Island countries: why the widespread and sustained failure of externally-sponsored interventions for climate-change adaptation in rural communities? Institute of Australian Geographers’ Conference, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia (July)
False promises: seawalls as maladaptations throughout the rural Pacific Islands. 11th Conference of the European Society for Oceanists, Munich, Germany (July)
Capturing community diversity for adaptation in the Pacific Islands: the role of peripherality. 11th Conference of the European Society for Oceanists, Munich, Germany (July) – with Roselyn Kumar, photo below.
Through the lens of peripherality: climate-driven changes to ecosystem services for communities in Bua, western Vanua Levu Island (Fiji). Oceania Ecosystem Services Forum, Brisbane, Australia (March)
Sustaining ecosystem services under a changing climate: an agenda for younger people. Keynote Address, Oceania Ecosystem Services Forum, Brisbane, Australia (March) – photo below
Understanding and rationalising climate change at an early age. Queensland Early Childhood Sustainability Network (QECSN) Conference, Tanawha, Queensland, Australia (March)
The Ancient Hillforts of Fiji: Recent Research in Ba and Bua. Public Lecture sponsored by the Fiji Museum and Pacific Heritage Hub, Suva, Fiji (February). Here is the flier …
… and here is a shot of the talk in the beautiful performance space of the Oceania Centre for Pacific Arts at the University of the South Pacific
2016
Eyewitness accounts of postglacial sea-level rise more than 7000 years ago: data from Aboriginal Australia. Keynote Address, 2nd Atlantys Conference (Surviving the End of the World as We Know It: Historical and Geographical Perspectives), Université de Nantes, France (November)
Climate Change and Tourism in the Pacific Islands: Compatible or Not? UN Young Professionals’ Association, Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia (October)
Climate Change and Pacific Island Countries: the next 30 years. UN Youth and Oaktree Society, Brisbane, Australia (August)
“Hanua i hei oto a nai warea?” (“Which island are you going to destroy?”): Indigenous stories of abruptly sinking islands in the Southwest Pacific and their geological explanations. Friday Environment Forum, Noosa Parks Association, Noosaville, Australia (August)
Ancient Aboriginal stories of the coastline: the world’s oldest memories? Sunshine Coast Reconciliation Group seminar, Our Shared History: Songlines and Creation Stories, Mudjimba, Australia (July) – photo below
