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Director, Centre for Rock Art Research + Management, The University of Western Australia

Professor Jo McDonald is the Director of the Centre for Rock Art Research + Management at UWA. She holds the Rio Tinto Chair in Rock Art Studies.

Jo completed an ARC Future Fellowship studying rock art, social and environmental change in the Western Desert of Australia and the Great Basin in the USA.

Prior to taking up her role as Director of CRAR+M, Jo was Director of Jo McDonald CHM Pty Ltd, a leading cultural heritage practice based in Sydney.

She has more than 35 years of experience in managing Indigenous archaeology and has been researching rock art throughout this time. Over the past 20 years most of her rock art research has been undertaken in Western Australia: along the Canning Stock Route, across the Pilbara and Murujuga (Dampier Archipelago).

As well as building collaborative research projects with Aboriginal host communities, Jo advises State and Federal governments on a range of heritage issues.

Experience

  • –present
    Director of the Centre for Rock Art Research + Management, University of Western Australia

Honours

AACAI Lifetime membership Award 2010; AAA Rhys Jones Medal 2016; AAA Bruce Veitch Award for Excellence in Indigenous Engagement 2018