Plenary Speaker

Associate Provost, Foundation Chair of Australian Indigenous Studies at The University of Melbourne

Marcia is a descendant of the Yiman people of Queensland. She is qualified as an anthropologist and geographer, and since 2000 has held the Foundation Chair of Australian Indigenous Studies at the University of Melbourne. Her current research concerns alcohol management and domestic and family violence in Aboriginal settings, and Indigenous data governance and community data projects.

She has produced a large body of knowledge in the areas of political and legal anthropology, and Aboriginal arts and culture. She has published and presented on Indigenous agreements and engagement with the minerals industry, Aboriginal land tenure, native title and Indigenous resource management. She has worked for the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, several government inquiries, and co-chaired the Voice Co-Design Senior Advisory Group with Prof Tom Calma AO.

In 2016 Professor Langton was honoured as a University of Melbourne Redmond Barry Distinguished Professor and from May 2017, has been the Associate Provost. In addition to her many academic publications, she is an award-winning author; her most popular book is Welcome to Country: A Travel Guide to Indigenous Australia (Hardie Grant 2018, 2021). She has also reached a large audience through her contributions to documentary series such as First Australians (SBS 2008) and The Australian Wars (SBS 2022) produced and directed by Rachel Perkins of Blackfella Films, and she edited and contributed to First Australians, An Illustrated History with Rachel (Miegunyah Press 2008).