Through our international initiative, we will seek to decentre human origins research by integrating Indigenous, Global South and other international perspectives

The International Initiative, Transforming Human Origins Research will establish a pioneering national and international consortium of researchers and communities from Western scientific institutions, Indigenous organisations and Global South partners to trace the evolutionary history of our species, Homo sapiens. The Initiative will address the past ~300,000 years of our evolution, examining long-term interactions between human biological and cultural diversity and the Earth’s climatic and environmental transitions. Despite more than 150 years of dedicated research, major gaps remain in understanding how our species evolved and diversified, how we responded to environmental and climatic changes, how we spread around the world and what this means to communities today. The Initiative will forge highly transformational research to address these knowledge gaps through innovative field and laboratory studies centring on the southern arc, extending around the Indian Ocean in Africa, Asia and Australia, addressing regions that have played a key, but understudied role in human origins.

Critically, our groundbreaking program will also promote diverse perspectives on the human past, featuring co-designed research and engagement with local communities across the southern arc, and exploring the place of the human story in a globally connected yet unequal world. The Centre will prompt discoveries about how environmental change influenced our biological and cultural trajectories, how we in turn shaped ecosystems and the ways that ecosystem and climate dynamics have made us a resilient, yet vulnerable, species. Our collaborative, transdisciplinary research program will gather environmental, biological and cultural information on an unprecedented temporal and geographic scale, informed by a cross-cultural, globalised and collaborative research approach, resulting in new and profound insights into the evolution and history of Homo sapiens.

Research Structure

The International Initiative for Transforming Human Origins Research combines Indigenous knowledge, Global South perspectives, and Western science. It integrates the Transformation Platform and three programs—Environments, Biology, and Culture—operating across Africa, Asia, and Australia to re-evaluate human-environment interactions and reshape the human story.

Transformation Platform

Transform the way in which human origins research is conducted, integrating Global South and Indigenous research perspectives across the Centre’s three Research Programs.

Program One - Environments

Examine our place in the natural world, and the role of climatic and environmental factors that have shaped evolutionary trajectories around the southern arc.

Program Two - Biology

Generate the first transdisciplinary biological consensus on human evolutionary history posed by the diverse and changing environments of the southern arc.

Program Three - Culture

Develop and implement archaeological studies to understand the role that dispersals and cultural innovations played in generating resilience in the face of environmental variability across Africa, Asia and Australia.

Call for Sessions, Transforming Human Origins Research (WAC-10)

The 10th World Archaeological Congress (WAC-10) will be held in Darwin, Australia in June 2025.

Call for Sessions

About the Theme

LinkedIn - see it first

For updates and photos of ground breaking research from fascinating sites across the Global South to the latest in exciting new research findings, connect with the International Initiative on Transforming Human Origins Research on our rapidly growing LinkedIn community.

LinkedIn

Professor Michael Petraglia

Director

(07) 3735 4256

Deb Murray

Research Development Manager

0422 294 702

4 Quality education 5 Gender equality 10 Reduce inequalities 13 Climate action 15 Life on land

Sustainable Development Goals

Griffith University is aligned to the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and committed to tackling global challenges around peace, justice and strong institutions and partnerships for goals.

Acknowledgement of Country

Griffith University acknowledges the people who are the traditional custodians of the land and pays respect to the Elders, past and present, and extends that respect to other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

Family Groups

South Bank, Nathan and Mount Gravatt campuses are situated on the land of the Yugarabul, Yuggera, Jagera and Turrbal peoples. Logan is situated on the land of the Yuggera, Turrbal, Yugarabul, Jagera and Yugambeh peoples. The Gold Coast is situated on the land of the Yugambeh/Kombumerri peoples.