Anita Smith

Anita Smith is Associate Professor of Archaeology and Heritage at La Trobe University and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquities, London and member of Australia ICOMOS.
She has been the cultural expert member of Australia’s delegation to the UNESCO World Heritage Committee from 2008 – 2011 and from 2018 – 2021. She is a member of the United Nations Group of Experts for the third cycle of the Global Reporting and Assessment of the State of the Marine Environment.
The focus of Anita’s research has been the protection of cultural heritage, notably cultural landscapes, through the World Heritage Convention. Her research in collaboration with First Nations communities in the Pacific Islands and Australia has contributed to four successful World Heritage nominations including Budj Bim cultural Landscape in Australia, Taputapuatea in French Polynesia and Levuka Historical Port Town in Fiji. With local communities and government in Federated States of Micronesia she is currently developing a World Heritage nomination for the cultural landscape of ‘Stone Money’ on the island of Yap.
Anita is an advisor to the Pacific World Heritage Program and a member of the Nature Cultural Working Group of the Pacific Island’s Roundtable for Nature Conservation.