Simon is currently Director of the School of Culture, History and Language (since 2016). He completed his PhD at ANU on the Late Quaternary Environmental History of the Tari Basin, Papua New Guinea, in 1994. While holding postdoctoral positions at the Smithsonian (STRI, Panama) and at the University of Cambridge he continued to pursue his interest in the role of past climate change and human activity on tropical and temperate ecosystems through work in the Amazon Basin and southern South America. His research is currently focussed on the application of high-resolution palaeoecological analysis to our understanding of the impact of climate variability and human activity on terrestrial ecosystems of the Pacific and Indian Oceans during the Holocene. He is also developing e-Research tools in palaeoecology such as the Australasian Pollen and Spore Atlas and the PalaeoWorks website. He is currently using his knowledge of Australian pollen to explore the impact of atmospheric pollen and spores on respiratory health.

Career highlights

I am currently serving 5 years membership of the International Advisory Board for the Graduate School of Human Development in Landscapes, University of Kiel (Germany). I am Chair of the College of Asia and the Pacific Reconciliation Action Plan committee (2010-) and elected Chair of the College Forum (CAP 2007-2008); Director of the Centre for Archaeological Research (2006-2009); President of the Australasian Quaternary Association (2000-2004); QEII (ARC) Research Fellow investigating the impact of El Niño-related climate variability on tropical rain forest ecosystems of the Western Pacific (1998-2004); Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Dept. of Plant Sciences, Cambridge University (1995-1997); Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panama (1994-1995).

Palaeoecology, Palynology; Palaeoclimatology; Fire History, Indian Ocean, Melanesia, Australia and Pacific Islands; See interview in Quarterly Bulletin, Dec 2003 (Download PDF); see PalaeoWorks website for full details on research and publication downloads.

• ARCH2022/6022 - Cultural Landscapes and Environmental Change (supported by New Colombo Plan funding (2016-2018)
• ENVS3029 and ENVS6529 - Palaeoenvironmental Reconstruction
• ARCH8030/8031 - Archaeological Science Research Project
• EMSC3020 - Geobiology and Evolution of Life on Earth