Vincent Backhaus

Vincent Backhaus is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at The Cairns Institute, James Cook University. He holds a PhD in Psychology & Education from the University of Cambridge, where he was the first Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander to complete a PhD. His academic roles include Senior Lecturer at JCU’s Indigenous Education and Research Centre (IERC) and Senior Teaching Fellow at University College London’s Institute of Education. He currently co-investigates Traditional Owner governance of Great Barrier Reef management strategies.

• Education: PhD (Cambridge), MPhil (Cambridge), BA (JCU)
• Professional Affiliations: BPS, APS, NAISA

Research focuses on Indigenous knowledges, educational psychology, and environmental governance. His work bridges traditional ecological knowledge with modern governance frameworks, emphasizing co-design approaches with Indigenous communities. Recent projects explore Traditional Owner leadership in Crown-of-Thorns starfish management on the GBR.

Publications span decolonial anthropology, Indigenous pedagogical strategies, and Pacific colonial legacies. He actively promotes Indigenous research capacity-building through JCU-CSIRO partnerships and supervises doctoral candidates in Indigenous studies.