Research Assistant (Fixed Term)

Applications are invited for a 24-month part-time Research Assistant position on 'The Great Exhibitions and their Lost Indigenous Objects', funded by the Australian Research Council.

This project will re-discover Australian Indigenous objects sent overseas to international exhibitions in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries which constituted vital forms of cultural, political and economic diplomacy and imperial communication and projection. Using rich archival, textual and photographic sources, it will investigate the Indigenous makers, collectors and representations of Aboriginal people at such exhibitions. By identifying objects still in collections and those sent but now lost, the project will repatriate knowledge and remake connections between objects and communities, generating new narratives and exhibition possibilities, bringing contemporary Indigenous messages to museums and a global audience.

Professor Nicholas Thomas is Partner Investigator on the project, which is led by Professor Gaye Sculthorpe, Deakin University, Melbourne.

The appointee will undertake research in support of the project goals across collections in museums and other repositories in the United Kingdom and elsewhere in Europe, will liaise with other members of the international research group, and support project activities and outcomes including workshops and publications.

Applicants should have experience of undertaking historical research on Indigenous artefacts and collections, experience of work with museum collections, and experience of working with community groups.

Applicants should have excellent organisation skills, attention to detail, ability to work on their own initiative and as part of a team, excellent interpersonal skills, demonstrated interests in museums and excellent written and oral communication skills. Applicants should hold a degree in anthropology, archaeology, history or a related discipline.

The successful applicant will be based at the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge, and be prepared to travel to undertake research in UK and European museum collections.