Sean Ulm

Sean Ulm is Distinguished Professor of Archaeology at James Cook University and Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Indigenous and Environmental Histories and Futures.

For more than 30 years, Sean has worked side‑by‑side with Indigenous communities, scientists, and government agencies to rethink what we know about Australia’s deep past. His collaborative research has transformed our understanding of how people have shaped, lived with, and adapted to the Australian continent for tens of thousands of years.

Sean’s work has sharpened archaeological timelines and improved the ways researchers interpret how sites were formed, giving us a clearer picture of past human activity. By bringing archaeological evidence together with environmental records, he has helped reveal the extraordinary ingenuity and resilience of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples—showing how diverse cultural practices have flourished across changing climates and landscapes. This research has challenged simplified versions of history and highlighted the rich complexity of Australia’s deep human story.

Sean has published more than 150 research articles and books on Australian archaeology. He is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities, the Society of Antiquaries of London, and the Queensland Academy of Arts and Sciences, and an Honorary Research Fellow of the Queensland Museum. His research spans Australia, Honduras, Chile, Europe, Southeast Asian, Papua New Guinea, and the broader Pacific.

Sean lives on beautiful Gimuy Walubara Yidinji Country in Cairns in Far North Queensland, Australia, with his wife and two daughters.