DrCharlotte Feakins

Lead Chief Investigator
ARC Linkage Project LP240200892: Re-storying Kakadu National Park

In partnership with Bininj/Mungguy Traditional Owners, Parks Australia and researchers from the University of Sydney, University of Canberra and Curtin University, this project examines places associated with Kakadu National Park’s recent past. Using collaborative, strengths-based approaches and archaeological, oral historical, archival and cultural landscape methods, the project challenges conventional divisions between Indigenous and colonial histories and develops more inclusive ways of understanding and managing Kakadu’s storied landscapes. ARC funding: $436,779.

Partner Investigator
ARC Linkage Project LP200301446: Everyday Heritage

This project examines overlooked and everyday forms of Australian heritage through collaborative approaches bridging academic and industry practice. It develops new methods for understanding how people value, experience and engage with heritage in everyday life, contributing to more inclusive heritage practice and public discussion about the role of the past in contemporary Australia. ARC funding: $361,695.

Lead Investigator
The Significance of Sentimental Objects in Trauma and Healing: Loss, Recovery and Resilience in Flood-Affected Communities

Funded by the University of Sydney Brain and Mind Centre, this interdisciplinary project investigates the significance of sentimental objects following the 2022 Northern Rivers floods. Bringing together heritage studies, mental health sciences and community expertise, it examines relationships between meaningful belongings, trauma, loss, recovery and resilience and contributes to the development of trauma-informed approaches to disaster recovery and heritage practice. Funding: $20,000.

Co-Lead Investigator
Belonging(s): Heritage, Trauma and Forced Displacement

In collaboration with STARTTS, this project explores the role of objects, heritage and belonging in the lives of people who have experienced forced displacement. It brings heritage and mental health perspectives together to develop trauma-informed approaches to understanding displacement, memory, belonging and wellbeing.

Co-Lead Investigator
Beyond Collective Nostalgia: Local Extremisms of Neo-Nationalist Heritage and the Power of Counter-Narratives in Germany and Australia

Funded through the Sydney–Heidelberg Partnership Collaboration Awards, this international project examines how far-right and counter-response narratives are expressed through everyday material culture and public space in Germany and Australia. It explores relationships between heritage, memory, nationalism and extremism, and the role of counter-narratives in challenging exclusionary representations of the past. Funding: $24,369.