DrCharlotte Feakins

BA (Hons 1M) Syd. PhD ANU M.ICOMOS

Dr Charlotte Feakins is an internationally recognised heritage researcher, archaeologist and practitioner working at the intersection of critical heritage studies, historical and contemporary archaeology, and mental health. Her interdisciplinary research examines how people experience, use and care for heritage—objects, places, practices and stories—and how these relationships shape experiences of trauma, recovery, belonging and resilience in contexts of disaster, displacement, inequality, and social and political uncertainty.

Charlotte’s research has advanced trauma-informed, strengths-based and community-led approaches to heritage and archaeology, bringing critical heritage theory into conversation with applied heritage practice and community expertise. Her work spans trauma and heritage; affect, emotion and material culture; uncertainty, crisis and imagined futures; climate justice and disaster recovery; far-right extremism and counter-responses; and the role of meaningful objects and places in healing, resilience and belonging. This research is informed by more than 15 years of heritage-sector experience and a sustained commitment to collaborative and applied research with communities, industry and government.

Charlotte is Lead Chief Investigator on the ARC Linkage Project Re-Storying Kakadu National Park (2025–2028), undertaken in partnership with Bininj/Mungguy Traditional Owners and Parks Australia. The project brings together archaeological, oral historical, archival and cultural landscape approaches to examine places associated with Kakadu’s recent settler-colonial past and develop collaborative approaches to their documentation, interpretation and care.

She also leads the Brain and Mind Centre project The Significance of Sentimental Objects in Trauma and Healing, examining meaningful belongings, loss, recovery and resilience following the 2022 Northern Rivers floods. Her wider collaborative research includes co-leading work with STARTTS on heritage, belonging and forced displacement, and the Sydney–Heidelberg project Beyond Collective Nostalgia, examining far-right and counter-response material culture in Germany and Australia.

Prior to joining the University of Sydney, Charlotte held senior roles in professional heritage practice, including as Manager and Associate at GML Heritage, where she established and led its Community Heritage team. Her extensive industry experience underpins an academic practice characterised by sustained partnerships with communities, heritage organisations, government agencies, cultural institutions and practitioners, and by a commitment to translating research into professional and public contexts.

Charlotte provides research and professional leadership across heritage and archaeology. She co-founded and co-curates the First Nations Speaker Series, a collaboration between the University of Sydney, Museums of History NSW and GML Heritage, and is Co-Lead of the Cooperation and Conflict Research Cluster within the Vere Gordon Childe Centre. She contributes to the wider heritage profession through Australia ICOMOS, professional mentoring, industry engagement and public scholarship.

At the University of Sydney, Charlotte teaches across Museum and Heritage Studies and Archaeology and is Heritage Studies Coordinator for Museum and Heritage Studies. She provides research supervision across Honours, Masters and PhD levels in critical heritage studies, historical and contemporary archaeology, trauma-informed heritage, material culture, memory and community heritage, and contributes to curriculum development, industry engagement and research training across these fields.

  Awards and Recognition

• Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Teaching Innovation Award, University of Sydney, 2025
• Maureen Byrne Award for Best Postgraduate Thesis in Australia and New Zealand, Australasian Society for Historical Archaeology, 2020
• Best Student Conference Paper, Australian Archaeological Association, 2020
• Best Student Conference Paper, Australasian Society for Historical Archaeology, 2019
• University Medal for Outstanding Academic Achievement, University of Sydney, 2013
• Maureen Byrne Memorial Prize for Best Honours Thesis, University of Sydney, 2013
• Graduates Prize in Prehistoric and Historical Archaeology, University of Sydney, 2012

National Trust Heritage Awards - Shortlisted

• Blacktown Native Institution Conservation Management Plan, 2025
• First Nations Speaker Series, 2022