Menu Close
Professor and Inaugural Director, Indigenous Knowledge Institute, The University of Melbourne

Professor Aaron Corn is a researcher with a background in music, curatorial studies and Indigenous studies. He is Inaugural Director of the Indigenous Knowledge Institute, a Melbourne Interdisciplinary Research Institute at the University of Melbourne. He has held multiple grants and fellowships from the Australian Research Council, works closely with Australian Indigenous colleagues in pursuing their own research interests, and serves as Co-Director of the National Recording Project for Indigenous Performance in Australia.

Professor Corn's work with Indigenous musicians, festivals and heritage collections engages with intellectual traditions that remain fundamental to Indigenous cultural survival and inform contemporary Australian engagements across different legal systems and cultures. His research into Indigenous intellectual traditions foregrounds the unique perspectives of Indigenous Australians on public opinions, government policies and scholarly debates that impact upon the cultural, economic and political futures of their communities.

Professor Corn has produced numerous international tours and concerts of Australian Indigenous performance traditions for major venues and festivals, and his work with Australian Indigenous colleagues and stakeholder communities to identify and access their collected cultural heritage has engendered new approaches to curatorial policies and practices among memory institutions around the world. He is a past National President of the Musicological Society of Australia and has served on the Australian Research Council College of Experts.

Experience

  • 2020–present
    Professor and Inaugural Director, Indigenous Knowledge Institute, The University of Melbourne
  • 2016–2020
    Professor of Music · Director, Centre for Aboriginal Studies in Music · Director, National Centre for Aboriginal Language and Music Studies, The University of Adelaide
  • 2010–2016
    ARC Future Fellow and Associate Professor of Music, The Australian National University
  • 2004–2010
    ARC Australian Postdoctoral Fellow and Research Fellow in Music and Digital Sources in Endangered Cultures, The University of Sydney
  • 2001–2003
    Lecturer in Anthropology and Australian Indigenous Studies, The University of Melbourne

Education

  • 2003 
    The University of Melbourne, Doctor of Philosophy
  • 1995 
    Griffith University, Master of Philosophy
  • 1992 
    Griffith University, Bachelor of Arts–Music with Honours First Class

Professional Memberships

  • Musicological Society of Australia
  • International Council for Traditional Music
  • Australian Institute for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies

Honours

Member of the Australian Institute for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS)