Biography

I grew up in Dunedin, New Zealand, where I later studied a BA in Classical Studies and Anthropology, and a BA Hons and MA in Anthropology at Otago University. My work explores the deep human history of the Indo-Pacific islands and long term changes to society, technology, and subsistence. My research around New Guinea has focussed on 1) the production and exchange of material culture by Austronesian-speaking communities around the northeast coast of Papua New Guinea; 2) Pleistocene-Holocene settlement, agriculture, and trade around the New Guinea Highlands; and, most recently as the subject of my PhD research, 3) human adaptation to small rainforested islands in eastern Wallacea and northwest New Guinea. Prior to beginning my PhD I was employed as Research Coordinator at Southern Pacific Archaeological Research where I examined stone tool industries around southern Aotearoa, early European settler urbanisation and industry, and the first Chinese settlement of New Zealand in the late nineteenth century.

Previous Education

University of Otago