Sean Ulm

Professor Sean Ulm is a Theme Leader for Cultural & Linguistic Transformations at The Cairns Institute and holds a Professorial Chair at James Cook University's College of Arts, Society & Education. He is affiliated with the Language and Culture Research Centre and the Centre for Tropical Environmental and Sustainability Studies, focusing on archaeology in northern Australia and the western Pacific.

His research addresses persistent problems in tropical archaeology, including coastal and underwater archaeology, Indigenous cultural heritage, landscape evolution, and human adaptation to environmental change. Recent work explores submerged cultural landscapes, shell midden preservation, and long-term demographic patterns through computational modeling and field excavation.

Professor Ulm contributes to major databases like SahulArch and OCTOPUS, advancing methodologies in radiocarbon calibration, palynological analysis, and 3D digital zooarchaeology. His projects emphasize collaboration with Indigenous communities and interdisciplinary approaches to sustainability challenges.