(from 2000 Only)

In a short ‘book and lecture’ tour of May 2014 to publicize the US edition of The Reef I delivered keynote invitation lectures at the University of Uppsala, Sweden, the University of Chicago (2), Stanford University (2).

Keynote Speaker, ‘Rise for the Oceans,’ Australian Marine Conservation Society, Brisbane Festival, September 2015

Keynote and Interview with Robert Manne, Bendigo Writers’ Festival, August 2015

Guest Writer, Cairns Tropical Writers Festival, 2014

‘Communicating the Humanities,” Colloquium, The Value of the Humanities, Humanities Research Centre, ANU, 2014

‘T.H. Huxley’s Subversive Pupil: William Saville Kent, Pioneer of Nineteenth Australian Marine Baselines’, Symposium of Climate Change and the Australian Coastline: Shifting Baselines, 8 November 2014

‘The House that Busst Built: John Busst and the Making of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park’, Conference on Turning the Tide, Mission Beach, 3 July 2014

‘A Passionate History of the Reef’, Malcolm McIntosh Memorial Lecture, CSIRO, October 2014.

‘Narrating the Reef’, The Oceans Today, From Environment to Narrative’, Stanford University Humanities Center, 2 June 2014.

‘Discovering the Life and Death of Coral’, Franke Institute for the Humanities, University of Chicago, 30 May 2014

‘The Reef’, Adelaide Writers’ Festival, 2014

Keynote lecture to ‘Sea Stories,’ University of Sydney, 2013

Key note to ‘Rethinking Invasion Ecologies’, University of Sydney, 2013

Keynote to ‘Environmental Humanities: the Question of Nature,’ Australian Academy of the Humanities Annual Symposium, University of QLD, 2013

‘Huxley’s Subversive Pupil,’ Marine and Maritime Research Festival, Sydney Environment Institute, 2013.

Turtle Power: Captain Cook’s Environmental Crisis on the Great Barrier Reef’ Cook’s Treasures Seminar, Canberra, ACT: National Library of Australia, 2012.

“Indigenous Habitation and Marine Ecologies, CHCI Annual Meeting, Australian National University, 2012

History at the Edge, Australian Historical Association conference, Launceston, 4-8 July 2011. Iain on the panel ‘History on Television: Texts in Contest’.

Australian History and the Australian Present II: 20th Century Influences, Festival of Ideas, Melbourne, 15 June 2011.

Romanticism and the Tyrannies of Distance, Romantic Studies Association of Australasia Biennial Conference, Sydney, 10-12 February 2011.

The Atlantic World in a Pacific Field, Sydney Sawyer Conference, Sydney, 5-7 August 2010

‘The Consolations of Coral: the Scientist as Murderer’, Telling Stories Workshop, 2009 World Congress of Science and Factual Producers, Melbourne, 5 December 2009.

‘Narcisse Pelletier. Castaway, Ethnographer and Ecologist’, A Workshop for Scientists, 2009 World Congress of Science and Factual Producers, Melbourne, 3 December 2009

‘Wales as the Crucible of Natural Selection: Alfred Russel Wallace and Evolution’, Celtic Studies Lunchtime Lecture, University of Sydney, 27 November 2009

‘Darwin’s Pacific Laboratory’, Darwin Across the Disciplines, Duke University, 5-6 November 2009

‘Darwin and the Struggle to Picture Evolution’, Franklin Humanities Center Lecture, Duke University, 4 Nov. 2009

‘Uncharted Waters. The Struggle to Depict Evolution’, Taking Stock: The Humanities in Australia, Colloquium of  the Australian Academy of the Humanities, National Library of Australia, Canberra, 19-20 Nov. 2009

‘The Regency and Romanticism’, Reworking the Regency, Australian National University and University of Melbourne, 8-10 October 2009

‘Building a Global Humanities Network’, Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center, 29 Sept.-3 October 2009

‘Writing Men into History’ and ‘Darwin. Lessons From History’, Brisbane Writer’s Festival, 9-14 Sept. 2009

‘Charles Darwin’s Pacific Project’, Darwin Symposium Lecture, National Art Gallery of New South Wales, 30 August 2009

‘Charles Darwin’s Laboratory of Islands’, in The Experience of the Ocean: Transformative Voyages in the Antipodes from Convicts to Royalty. Sawyer Sydney Seminar Series, University of Sydney, 21 August 2009

‘Beyond Evolution’, and ‘Darwin’s Armada’, Adelaide Festival of Ideas, 9-12 July 2009

‘Charles Darwin and Visual Culture’, Darwin Cambridge Festival, 5-10 July 2009

‘Charles Darwin’, Masters of Modern Thought Series, Research School of the Humanities, ANU, 2 June 2009

‘Prophecy, Mesmerism and Counter-revolution. PJ de Loutherbourg’s Romantic Turn’, The British Atlantic in an Age of Revolution and Reaction, University of California Los Angeles, Wm Andrew Clark Memorial Library, 15-16 May 2009

‘The Impact of the Antipodes on Ecological Thought’, Sawyer Sydney Seminar Series, University of Sydney, 8 May 2009

‘The Humanists’, Philanthropy and the Humanities, Trinity College, Melbourne, 29-30 March 2009

‘Well-Salted in Early Life. Darwin, Hooker and Huxley — Scientists at Sea’, Colloquium of. Science in the Southern Oceans from the Age of Darwin, National Maritime Museum, 21 March 2009

‘Darwin’s Armada’, ANU Public Lecture, Canberra, 25 February 2009.

‘TH Huxley, The Reluctant Evolutionist’, in Evolution: the Experience, Museum of Victoria and Commonwealth Government, Melbourne Convention Centre, 10 February 2009

‘A Lunatic Idea: British Science and Evolution on the eve of Darwin’s Origin of Species’. Papers presented at Darwin Symposium, National Museum of Australia, 26 February 2009

‘Historical Re-enactments. Should We Take Them Seriously?’ Annual History Council Lecture for History Council of NSW, Sydney, 2007, 5-21

 ‘Metrics in History and Political Science’, CHASS Pilot Workshop, Melbourne, 14 November 2006

Report on CHCI Chicago Meeeting to Australian chapter of CHCI, Old Canberra House, 12 September 2006

‘An Eighteenth-Century Movie Maker: Philippe de Loutherbourg, Technomancer’, ‘Histories on Wednesday’ Seminar Series, Macquarie University, 1 November 2006

‘De Loutherbourg, Beckford and the Virrtual Saturnalia of 1781’, Conference ‘The Romantic Spectacle’, Centre for Research in Romanticism, Roehampton University, London, 7-9 July 2006

‘Failing with Livingstone: A Personal Voyage of Re-Enactment on Lake Nyassa’, Work-in-Progress Seminar Series, Humanities Research Centre, Australian National University, 6 June 2006

‘Philippe de Loutherbourg: Bridging the Distance between Marvels and Movies’, Conference ‘Breaking the News: The Humanities Writing Workshop’, Humanities Research Centre, Australian National University, 25 May 2006

‘Scholars at Risk’ Workshop, Conference ‘The Fate of Disciplines’, CHCI Annual Meeting, 27 April 2006

‘Innovation – Opportunities and Challenges for Canberra’, Conference ‘Creating a Centenary of Innovation’, Old Parliament House, 11 May 2006

‘Working Across the Disciplines’, Invited speech, ‘Expanding Horizons’ Symposium, Council for Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences (CHASS), National Library of Australia, 28 March 2006

‘Spectres of Quackery. The Fragile Careers of Philippe de Loutherbourg’, ‘Scandal’ Symposium, Humanities Research Centre, Australian National University, 3 March 2006

‘Using Lives’, Session on Dual Biography, Postgraduate Workshop, Humanities Research Centre, Australian National University, 8 February 2006

‘An Oriental Seraglio: The Spectacle of Sexuality in Late Eighteenth-Century Britain’, Enlightenment and Reform in Modern British Culture, 14th Australasian Modern British History Association Conference, Launceston, 12-14 December 2005

‘In David Livingstone’s Wake: Retracing a Voyage on Lake Nyasa’, Conference ‘Settlers, Creoles, and the Re-Enactment of History’, Vanderbilt University, Tennessee, USA, 11-12 November 2005

‘De Loutherbourg’s Re-Enactments, Re-enactment and the Question of Realism’, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, 13-14 May 2005

‘A Virtual Saturnalia: William Beckford, Philippe de Loutherbourg and the Spectacle of Sexuality in the late Eighteenth Century Britain’, Keynote paper, at ‘Enlightenment and Reform in Modern British Culture’, 14th conference of the Australasian Modern British History Association, Launceston, 12-14 December 2005

‘A Virtual Saturnalia. Philippe de Loutherbourg, William Beckford and the Spectacle of the Sublime’, The Guises of Reason: Taste and the Aesthetic, 1660-1830’, California Institue of Technology, Pasadena, 6-7 May 2005

‘In David Livingstone’s Wake: Retracing a Voyage on Lake Nyasa’, Conference ‘Middle Passages: The Oceanic Voyage as Social Process’, Fremantle Maritime Museum, WA, 14 July 2005

‘De Loutherbourg’s Spectacles: Re-enactment, Simulation and Realism in late-Georgian Britain’, Conference ‘Extreme and Sentimental History’, Huntington Library, San Marino, LA, 13 May 2005

WA Maritime Museum Public Lecture, ‘The Little Ship of Horrors’. Re-enacting Cook’s Voyage up the East Coast of Australia’, Fremantle Maritime Museum, WA, 15 July 2005

 ‘Spectres of Quackery. The Fragile Career of Philippe de Loutherbourg’, Conference ‘Charlatanism in the ‘Age of Reason’, The Monash Prato Centre, Italy, 27 September 2004

‘The Little Ship of Horrors. Re-enacting Extreme History’, XIIth David Nichol Smith International Conference on the Eighteenth Century, ‘New Voyagings on Old Seas’, Canberra, 20 July 2004

Presidential Address, ‘Teddy Roosevelt’s Trophy: History and Nostalgia’, 35th Australian Academy of the Humanities Symposium, ‘Memory, Monuments and Memorials’, University of Tasmania, 18 November 2004

Panel, ‘What Can Fiction do for History?’ Writing History Festival, NSW Writers Centre, 18 September 2004

Panel, ‘History and Fiction’, Victorian Writers’ Centre, 10 September 2004

‘Making Culture Bloom’, Telstra Address, National Press Club, Canberra, 6 June 2004

‘De Loutherbourg’s Secret Art’, Keynote address, Postgraduate Symposium, ‘Excess: Rapture and Revolution’, University of Melbourne, 11 June 2004

‘Excellence in the Humanities, Creative Arts and Media’, National Academies Forum Symposium, ‘Measuring Excellence in Research and Research Training’, 22 June 2004

‘De Loutherbourg’s Secret Art: Sex, Lies and Moving Pictures in the Age of Reason’, Seminar ‘Spectacle, Illusion and Performance: Britain and the Colonies in the Long Eighteenth Century’, University of Sydney, 13 May 2004

‘Video Voyaging: Historical Re-enactment and Reality TV’, Consortium of Humanities Centers and Institutes, Annual Conference ‘After the Past’, Stanford University, USA, 16 April 2004

‘Re-enacting Philippe de Loutherbourg’s Eidophusikon’, Conference, ‘Extreme and Sentimental History’, Vanderbilt University, USA, 2 April 2004

‘The Little Ship of Horrors: Re-Enacting Extreme History’, Conference, ‘Extreme and Sentimental History’, Vanderbilt University, USA, 2 April 2004

Presidential address, ‘Genre-bending: From Crossover History to Autobiographical Travel’, Australian Academy of the Humanities Symposium: Readers, Writers, Publishers, Melbourne, 13-14 November 2003.

Brisbane Writers’ Festival. October 2003. Speaker: The Science of Magic, Madness and Mysticism, Brisbane Science Writer’s Festival, 4 October, 2003; Panel Speaker: Balance and Bias. Writing History. 5 October, 2003

 ‘From Reality TV to the Airport Bookshop: The Pleasures and Perils of Popularising Scholarship’, Humanities Research Centre, ANU seminar, 10 October 2003

‘Moving the Intellectual Field Forward’, Deans of Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities Conference, UTS, Sydney, 2 October 2003

Public lecture: ‘From Reality TV to the Airport Bookshop: the Pleasures and Perils of Popularizing Scholarship’, Center for Cultural and Critical Studies, University of Queensland. 18 September 2003

Melbourne Writers’ Festival. August 2003. Panel Speaker: Can We Change the Past?, 23 August 2003; Panel Speaker: Absolutely Fabulous: Writing the Fable, 24 August 2003; Panel Speaker: Putting the Story Back in History, 31 August 2003.

‘Death of the Book? Challenges and Opportunities for Scholarly Publishing‘, National Scholarly Communications Forum, Sydney 7-8 March 2003. Opening speech.

‘Scholars and the Real World’, broadcast on Perspective, Radio National, 7 March 2003

‘Nostalgia’, Occasional Address for Graduation Ceremony of the Faculty of Law and the Faculty of the College of Fine Arts at the University of New South Wales, 11 October 2002

‘Research User Centres’ at the launch of the ‘Cultural Research and Development’ Programme at Lingnan University, Hong Kong, 2 October 2002

‘Prophecy, Magic and Healing: The strange case of Count Cagliostro’, Conference, Unauthorised Knowledges: Nonconformist thought and its Influences in Australia and beyond, Centre for Cross-Cultural Research and the National Centre for Gender, Sexuality and Culture, Australian National University, 27 September 2002

‘Reconfiguring the Humanities’, A lecture to inaugurate the Humanities Research Centre’s 30th Anniversary Year, National Library of Australia, 12 September 2002

‘A Centre for Science Communication?’, Australian Science Communicators Symposium ‘Communicating Science – For Enterprise’, Australian Academy of Science, Canberra, August 2002

‘Advocacy and the Academy’, British Academy Centenary Conference, London, June 2002

‘Museum and Heritage Management’, Chaired session at Summit of the Humanities and Social Science, July 2002

‘Creative Arts and National Research Priorities’, National Symposium on ‘Innovation: Arts, Media, and Design’, Victorian College of the Arts, 24 May 2002

‘First Nelson Position Paper on ‘Australia at the Crossroads’‘, National Press Club of Australia, April 2002

‘International and Global Perspectives’, Festival of Ideas, Manning Clark House, Canberra, 2 March 2002

‘Innovation and Cultural Research’, Colloquium on the New Humanities, Institute of Cultural Research, University of Western Sydney, November 2001

‘Magic and the Art of Imposture: Cagliostro and Casanova’, XIth David Nichol Smith International Conference on the Eighteenth Century, ‘The Exotic in the Long Eighteenth Century’, Canberra, March 2001

‘William Blake and Millennial Radicalism’, Keynote lecture, Tate Library, ‘William Blake’, November 2000

‘Cultural History and Cultural Studies: The Linguistic Turn Five Years On’, at the National Library of Australia conference ‘Challenging History: Discovering New Narratives’, 14-15 April 2000