AACAI STUDENT SUPPORT FUND
Two of AACAI's objectives are to: (1) support and encourage research into all forms of archaeology, and (2) promote the training of students in archaeology. Our Association runs a Student Support Fund every year to enable us to achieve those objectives.
The Fund is generously donated by archaeological consultants and managed by a subcommittee of AACAI with applications assessed in a regulated process. They are awarded close to the start of the academic year. Students are able to spend the money in the way that they decide is appropriate, either to support research costs or to assist with living expenses. No receipting of expenses is required; however, the recipient is requested to acknowledge AACAI in their thesis and any published material resulting from the research. Publication of at least an abstract (though we would prefer a full paper) in the AACAI journal is also requested, along with a post for our newsletter.
Information for the AACAI Student Support Fund for 2026 is found below.
AACAI Student Support Fund 2026 Application Guide
Below, students will find a guide on how to apply for the fund. If you have any queries about the application process, please reach out to us at [email protected]
FORMS
INSTRUCTIONS AND GUIDELINES FOR STUDENTS
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Fill out Part 1 - Student Form
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Demonstrate how your research project connects to or contributes to consulting archaeological practice
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Attach a copy of your academic transcript
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If you are a Masters student, attach proof that your course has a research thesis component
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Seek at least one referee to support your application – this must be a person involved in your research project
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Ask your referee to fill out Part 2 – Referee Form
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Forms must be returned via email to [email protected]
APPLICATION DEADLINE: 30 APRIL 2026
AACAI Student Support Fund 2026 Donors
Comber Consultants
Comber Consultants is based in Central Tilba, NSW and have recently merged with Unearthed Archaeology Pty Ltd.
Comber Consultants has provided best practice end-to-end archaeological and multidisciplinary heritage management solutions for over 30 years, and they are committed to excellence and quality in the provision of award-winning services. Comber Consultants has donated to the AACAI Student Support over many years.
Associates Archaeology & Heritage
Associates Archaeology & Heritage is the sole trader Aboriginal heritage consultancy of Oliver Brown, working in Sydney’s coastal sandstone country.
Oliver helped to establish the AACAI Student Support Fund back in 2010 when he could still just remember the real struggles of balancing living expenses and the challenges of a budding archaeologist's first serious and ambitious tilt at independent, unfunded research. Having asked for donations from others and now living the easy life, it would be frankly rude if he didn't contribute.
Wallis Heritage Consulting
Wallis Heritage Consulting has staff based in South Australia, Western Australia and Queensland.
Wallis Heritage Consulting has professional expertise in Aboriginal cultural heritage and archaeological research, and they are actively engaged in shaping heritage standards through extensive involvements in professional, academic and community organisations. Wallis Heritage Consulting has contributed to the AACAI Student Support Fund in the past.
Big Island Research
Big Island Research are a Perth based heritage consultancy who works across all regions of Western Australia.
Big Island Research specialises in archaeological, anthropological and cultural heritage management and offers expertise in all aspects of Aboriginal heritage assessment, management and research to a broad client base including Aboriginal Representative Bodies and Prescribed Bodies Corporate (PBCs), private proponents, local governments and museums.
Heritage Now
Heritage Now is an archaeological and heritage consulting company that operates in NSW.
Heritage Now undertakes Aboriginal and historical excavations, surveys, assessments and post-excavation analysis from their offices in Sydney and Newcastle. We support the AACAI Student Support Fund because we’d like to back the next generation of archaeologists.
RJ Heritage
RJ Heritage is based in Toowoomba, Queensland.
RJ Heritage have over 18 years' experience in cultural heritage management and native title throughout Australia and Papua New Guinea. They have experience in both the private and public sectors with many Traditional Owner groups and clients from
mining to transport across Australia.
AACAI Student Support Fund 2025 Recipients
| Year | Name | University |
Project |
| 2025 | Jonathan Bennett | University of Sydney | Use-wear analysis of Holocene backed and non-backed retouched artefacts from SE Australia |
| 2025 | Kayla Turner | James Cook University | Approaching artefact biographies from Jiigurru-Lizard Island Group, Northern Great Barrier Reef |
| 2025 | Joseph Roth | University of Queensland | Ripples of Parramatta's Agrarian Past: How Archaeologists interact with and conserve the Archaeology of Colonial Agriculture |
| 2025 | Sayed Nezam | University of Western Australia | Sacred or Mythological: A Critical Analysis of Indigenous Sacred Heritage Management in Western Australia |
History of the AACAI Student Support Fund
Previous Recipients of the AACAI Student Support Fund
|
Year |
Name |
University |
Project |
|
2022 |
Samantha Cranwell |
James Cook University |
Analysing the Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act (Qld) 2003: How effective has this legislation been in protecting Aboriginal cultural heritage? |
|
2022 |
Juan Alejandro Marquez Lopez |
Flinders University |
Chasing Narnooroo: An overview of cultural relevance and occupation patterns in the Upper Murray River Gorge, South Australia |
|
2022 |
Jarrod Van der Weide |
University of Western Australia |
Identifying and Mitigating the Risk of Recreational Disturbance to Recently Identified Archaeological and Cultural Heritage Sites in Wandoo National Park, Western Australia |
|
2022 |
Keeley Wood |
Griffith University |
From Past to Present: A Study of Photographic Records of Rock Art in Southeast Cape York Peninsula |
|
2021 |
Ruby Todorovski |
University of Queensland |
Internationalising Intangible Cultural Heritage: A Study of UNESCO's 2003 Convention and Postcolonial Nations |
|
2020 |
Aimee Henderson |
Griffith University |
Ancient DNA to Provenance, Revitalise and Repatriate Material Culture |
|
2020 |
Cameron Neal |
University of Sydney |
On the top of a mountain I saw the figure of a man: An analysis of the relationship between sensory perception and the engraved art of the Sydney-Hawkesbury region using GIS and the concept of afffordances |
|
2020 |
Jacqueline Turner |
University of New England |
In the Groove: Evaluating precolonial Aboriginal mobility in the New England Tablelands using non-destructive pXRF of stone artefacts from excavations of the Gostwyck Grinding Groove site |
|
2019 |
Emily Martin |
University of Western Australia |
The exploration of underfloor deposits relating to drug use: Artillery Drill Hall, Fremantle WA |
|
2018 |
Christopher Clark |
University of Queensland |
Handling the Heritage of a Non-Event: The Heritage Management of Brisbanes Air-Raid Shelters |
|
2018 |
Caroline Hawker |
La Trobe University |
A technological analysis of tachylite assemblages from Dja Dja Wurrung country |
|
2018 |
Alexandra Seifertova |
University of Sydney |
Landscape and its role in the detection of sites in the central lowlands of the Hunter Valley and the Cumberland Plains |
|
2018 |
Helena van der Riet |
University of Western Australia |
|
|
2017 |
Lauren Louise Churchill |
University of Sydney |
Foodways in regional New South Wales in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries: A study of butchery patterns |
|
2017 |
Rodina Goranitis |
University of Queensland |
Doing it right: Best practice standards in cultural heritage management |
|
2017 |
Rebekah Hawkins |
University of Sydney |
Exploring the relationship between raw material and morphology in a lithic assemblage from Lake George NSW: A close look at backed artefacts and core production and their connection to raw material |
|
2017 |
Jacinta Koolmatrie |
Flinders University |
|
|
2017 |
Liam Norris |
Australian National University |
Analysis of the Guerrilla Bay and Rosedale middens, Tomakin, NSW |
|
2016 |
Lara Tooby |
University of Sydney |
|
|
2016 |
Karen Horn |
University of Western Australia |
|
|
2016 |
Lorna Cooper |
University of Western Australia |
An archaeology of the dynamic physical and social landscape of Gallop House, WA: Using geospatial and geophysical techniques to interrogate archival resources within a historical archaeological and heritage management context |
|
2016 |
Sarah Slater |
James Cook University |
Exploring a novel site expression of Polymesoda erosa in the archaeological record of the South Wellesley Islands |
|
2015 |
Emmy Frost |
La Trobe University |
|
|
2015 |
Anna Kreij |
James Cook University |
Modified landscapes: High-resolution LiDAR mapping and analysis of Indigenous fishtraps |
|
2015 |
Lee Sheppard |
University of Queensland |
|
|
2014 |
Adrian Mollenmans |
Flinders University |
An analysis of Aboriginal fish traps on Yorke Peninsula, South Australia |
|
2014 |
B'geela Romano |
University of Western Australia |
Managing graffiti and other inscriptions at Fremantle Prison UNESCO World Heritage Site |
|
2014 |
Paul Smithson |
University of Western Australia |
Scratching the surface: A comparitive assessment of a surface stone artefact concentration at a multi component Aboriginal archaeological site from the Weld Range, Western Australia |
|
2013 |
Charlotte Feakins |
University of Sydney |
From hideouts to hangouts: Materialising myths at buffalo bush camps on the South Alligator River, Kakadu National Park |
|
2013 |
Katie Woo |
University of Queensland |
The effect of sample size on the analyses of faunal assemblages |
|
2013 |
Texas Nagel |
James Cook University |
Using foraminifera to refine understandings of archaeological site formation processes: A case study from Thundiy, Bentinck Island, Southern Gulf of Carpentaria |
|
2012 |
Yinika Perston |
University of New England |
Assessing 'ad hoc' lithic technologies in Australasian archaeology |
|
2011 |
Tamika Goward |
University of Sydney |
|
|
2011 |
Elyse Beck |
University of New England |
Evaluation of PXRF for rapid on-site artefact characterisation: A case study using coarse ware ceramics from Central Anatolia |
|
2011 |
Rebecca Andrews |
University of Sydney |
|
|
2010 |
James Smith |
University of Queensland |
The role of the Burra Charter in structuring Australian Aboriginal cultural heritage management practice |
|
2010 |
Melissa Hetherington |
Australian National University |
A scattered landscape: Analysis of the shell middens EU-IC-ASM-0862 and EU-IC-WAM-0847 South to investigate coastal resource use on Mainland Infrastructure Corridor, Pilbara, Western Australia |