Paul Turnbull

Biography

Paul Turnbull holds a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) degree from James Cook University (1978) and a Doctor of Philosophy (1984). He is an emeritus professor of history and digital humanities at the University of Tasmania and honorary professor and co-founder of the Australian National University’s International Centre for Repatriation Training, Practice and Research.

His research interests initially centred on eighteenth-century European intellectual history. Since the early 1990s, he has focused on exploring the history of Western scientific curiosity, theft and uses of the ancestral bodily remains of Australian and other indigenous peoples. His publications have made significant contributions to the global history of the human sciences, intellectual history, and the history of anthropology in colonial contexts. Over the past three decades, Professor Turnbull has also dedicated himself to applied research in collaboration with First Nation communities to facilitate the repatriation of their Ancestors held in overseas museum collections. He is also internationally known for pioneering the creation of freely accessible research-based online digital resources.