Everick Associate Research Assistant Opportunities
The School of Social Science is seeking to recruit up to 6 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Associate Research Assistants to work with UQ researchers on active projects over summer 2023/2024. The scheme is sponsored by a philanthropic gift by Everick Foundation. Working under the routine supervision of and reporting to a Project Supervisor, Everick Indigenous Associate Research Assistants will support researchers in conducting research activities in the fields of archaeology, cultural heritage and related areas. See list of projects below.
Training will be provided during the placement and will be complemented by ongoing support from the nominated Project Supervisors. Those in the role will:
- Assist with the collection of data or samples;
- Maintain accurate and up to date research records;
- Prepare text, graphs and figures for research reports;
- Actively participate in research group meetings with supervisor;
- Participate in presentation of research findings to UQ’s research community in a research showcase;
- Provide reflections to researchers on your experience.
Want to Apply?
Please apply for these casual positions through Workday.
Available Projects
Project name: Environment or Cultural Heritage? Impact Assessment reviews in the Pilbara
Area of inquiry: Environmental Anthropology
Project Supervisor: Sally Babidge
This project will help inform an enquiry that is being developed in partnership with Kariyarra Aboriginal Corporation (‘KAC’, South Hedland, WA). The enquiry as a whole is a review, organisation and analysis of all previous environmental impact assessments and cultural heritage assessments in Kariyarra country. The project will involve 1) undertaking preliminary collection of, reading and data entry on a selection of environmental impact and cultural heritage reports and 2) using a basic bibliographic database and excel spreadsheet to organise the material. The interested student may also work to propose analytical categories and questions for the material. The project can be undertaken in 50 or 100 hours. Students will undertake the work in the offices of the School of Social Science or library.
Project name: The plants of Mithaka Country
Area of inquiry: Archaeology/botany
Project Supervisors: Jen Silcock (UQ/Queensland Herbarium), Makayla Harding (UQ) and Andy Fairbairn (UQ)
In partnership with the Mithaka Aboriginal Corporation, UQ and the Queensland Herbarium are assembling a modern collection of botanical specimens to help identify plant remains found in archaeological sites from Mithaka Country, helping us to understand the deep history of plant use, landscape and economy. The Associate Research Assistant will prepare and catalogue reference specimens for use in UQ’s archaeology laboratory, helping to build and record the physical collection of seeds, fruits and other plant tissues.
Project name: Microbotanical signatures of Australian seed grinding: a reference collection study
Area of inquiry: Archaeology
Project Supervisor: Alison Crowther and Andrew Fairbairn, School of Social Science, a.crowther@uq.edu.au
The use of a wide variety of seeds for food by Indigenous Australians was widely documented during the ethnographic period, but has been more challenging to trace in the archaeological record. Microscopic residues of starch granules and phytoliths from the seeds of grasses, trees, shrubs and other plants found on the surfaces of grindstones can be used to document seed grinding in the past. Such studies rely on comprehensive reference collections to enable taxonomic identifications of the plant microremains. This laboratory-based study will contribute towards the development of a microbotanical reference collection as part of a larger project investigating the antiquity of seed processing on Mithaka Country in western Queensland. The project will involve the microscopic analysis of starch granules and/or phytoliths from modern reference taxa that were potentially used for food in the past. Laboratory training will be provided including: processing of plant reference material, light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy, and recording microremains using a morphological key. The data generated from the project will be incorporated into the UQ Online Archaeobotany Reference Database.
Project name: Ancient projectiles scanning project
Area of inquiry: Experimental archaeology
Project Supervisor: Chris Clarkson and Michael Manoel
This project involves training and skill development in 3D scanning, image manipulation and measurement of experimental ancient projectiles using 3D scanning technology. The project is an important element of the ARC funded Evolution of High Speed Projectiles project, which seeks to understand when in the human past fast projectiles first appeared, including in Australia. The Associate Research Assistant will take part in ballistic experiments with replica projectile armatures, acquiring 3D scans of them before and after their use.
Project name: Pollen analysis of long-term landscape change on Mithaka Country
Area of inquiry: Palaeoenvironment
Project Supervisor: Patrick Moss
This project will use analysis of pollen and other information from sediment cores taken waterholes in SW Queensland to understand the deep time history of landscape and environmental change on Mithaka Country. This will provide insight into climate change for the region, as well as potential landscape management through the use of fire by the Traditional Custodians and impacts of British colonisation, which disrupted Indigenous fire management in the late 19th and 20th centuries. The Associate Research Assistant will help prepare and extract pollen and other proxies (micro charcoals etc) from the cores as well as analyse pollen slides using high powered microscopy.