Michael Davis's academic background is in history and anthropology, with a BA Honours in Pacific and Aboriginal Studies (La Trobe University); and he is completing his PhD (by Publication) with UTS. He has an established career in high level public policy formulation and critique, as well as in research and writing on Indigenous rights in cultural heritage, traditional knowledge, environment and cultural and intellectual property. Michael has written and presented many conference papers, including internationally.

Michael's achievements include a conference grant from the Humanities Research Council, a Northern Territory History Award, and a History and Education Grant from the National Council for the Centenary of Federation. In 2008 will take up a four week Janet Holmes a Court Fellowship at Manning Clark House in Canberra to continue his research and writing on Indigenous heritage.

Michael has completed consultancies with a wide range of organisations, including Aboriginal land councils and other Aboriginal organisations, universities, the Indigenous Social Justice Unit of HREOC, the Murray Darling Basin Commission, and the Desert Knowledge Cooperative Research Centre. He was a key participant in a scoping study on Aboriginal knowledge and intellectual property completed by Charles Darwin University in 2007. Prior to that Michael wrote a series of protocols for protecting Aboriginal intellectual property and traditional knowledge for the Central Land Council. He has recently completed a consultancy for the Desert Knowledge Cooperative Research Centre, in which he provided a major contribution to the revision of an Aboriginal Knowledge and Intellectual Property Protocol. During 2006-07 Michael worked with the Kimberley Language Centre at Halls Creek, where he developed, with various language speakers and groups, a comprehensive report and set of research guidelines for Aboriginal knowledge and intellectual property.

Michael has worked in senior policy positions in ATSIC, and with the Indigenous Social Justice Unit of HREOC, where much of his work was involved with developing policy reforms for recognition and protection of Indigenous cultural and intellectual property rights. He also has international experience in this area, and was a consultant writer/editor with the Earth Negotiations Bulletin, an on-line resource of the Canadian based NGO, the International Institute for Sustainable Development.

Michael is conducting a range of research projects at Jumbunna, including a history of Indigenous Redfern (with the City of Sydney), and policy papers on cultural heritage and environment for the New South Wales Aboriginal Land Council. Michael's ongoing research interests include: developing a critique of Indigenous knowledge that embraces notions of place and belonging; historically informed examinations of European representations of Indigenous cultural heritage; and critical reviews of current and emerging developments in Indigenous knowledge, biodiversity and cultural and intellectual property rights.

In addition, Michael is currently completing a substantial historically based research project as the 2006 Library Council of NSW Honorary Fellow. For this, he is working on the papers of Frederick McCarthy at the Mitchell Library. McCarthy was a Sydney based archaeologist, anthropologist, curator and administrator with the Australian Museum. He was the first Principal of the AIATSIS. Michael's project will culminate in a study and critique on the life's work of McCarthy in Aboriginal cultural heritage.

Michael has recently published a major work entitled Writing Heritage: The Depiction of Indigenous Heritage in European-Australian Writings (Australian Scholarly Publishing, Melbourne, and National Museum of Australia Press, Canberra, 2007). This work is a study of representations of Indigenous heritage in the writings of a diverse range of European-Australian observers, collectors, anthropologists, administrators and others, since the mid-1800s.

Michael's works include:

Published Works

Craig, D., and Davis, M. 2006. Ethical Relationships for Biodiversity Research and Benefit-sharing with Indigenous Peoples. Macquarie Journal of International and Comparative Environmental Law, 2(2): 31-74.

Davis, M. 2007. Writing Heritage: The Depiction of Indigenous Heritage by European-Australians. Melbourne, Australian Scholarly Publishing, and National Museum of Australia Press (ORDER FORM).

Davis, M. 2006. Bridging the Gap or Crossing a Bridge? Indigenous Knowledge and the Language of Law and Policy. In Fikret Berkes, Doris Capistrano, Walter V. Reid, and Tom Wilbanks (eds). Bridging Scales and Knowledge Systems: Concepts and Applications in Ecosystem Assessments. Washington DC, Island Press: 145-182.

Davis, M. 2005. Undertaking Projects and Research in Central Australia. A Report Prepared by Central Land Council and Desert Knowledge Cooperative Research Centre. Alice Springs.

Davis, M. 2001. Law, Anthropology, and the Recognition of Indigenous Cultural Systems. In Rene Kuppe and Richard Potz (eds). Law and Anthropology: International Yearbook for Legal Anthropology, 11. The Hague, Martinus Nijhoff: 298-320.

Davis, M. 1999. Indigenous Rights in Traditional Knowledge and Biological Diversity: Approaches to Protection. Australian Indigenous Law Reporter, 4(4): 1-32.

Davis, M. 1998. Biological Diversity and Indigenous Knowledge. Research Paper No. 17, 1997-98. Canberra. Department of the Parliamentary Library.

Davis, M. 1997. Indigenous Peoples and Intellectual Property Rights. Research Paper No 20. Canberra. Department of the Parliamentary Library.

Smallacombe, S., Davis M ., and Quiggin, R. 2006. Scoping Report on Traditional Knowledge: Report of a Study for the Desert Knowledge Cooperative Research Centre, DKCRC, Alice Springs.

 

Select Conference and Seminar Presentations

Indigenous knowledge: beyond protection towards dialogue, presented to conference Indigenous Studies and Indigenous Knowledge, Jumbunna Indigenous House of Learning, UTS, Sydney, 11-13 July 2007.

Indigenous knowledge, ethics, and bioprospecting, presented to conference Indigenous Knowledge and Bioprospecting, Macquarie University, Sydney, 21-24 April 2004.

Bridging the gap or crossing a bridge? Indigenous knowledge and the language of law and policy, presented to conference Bridging Scales and Epistemologies: Linking Local Knowledge and Science in Multiscale Assessments, Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Alexandria, Egypt, 17-20 March 2004.

Writing Indigenous environmental knowledge and practices: discourse and imagery in European texts, presented to Australian Anthropological Society Annual Conference, Perth, 21-23 September 2000.

Competing knowledges? Indigenous knowledge systems and western scientific discourse, presented to conference Science and Other Knowledge Traditions, Humanities Research Centre and James Cook University, Cairns, 23-27 August 1996.