Flames of Opportunity The Hugh Williamson Lecture 2020

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Can Indigenous knowledge radically change the threat of climate change? Learn more about the role it can play in this year's Hugh Williamson Lecture.

For this year's annual Hugh Williamson Lecture, Melbourne's Science Gallery is putting on an online yarn about First Peoples cultural burning traditions as a scientific practice and the role of Indigenous futurism in partnership with the Indigenous Knowledge Institute.

Watch a discussion between Associate Professor Michael-Shawn Fletcher and award-winning STEM journalist, NITV's Rae Johnston on why existing approaches to caring for Country need to change, how they can change, and what a future where Indigenous knowledge has radically changed the threat of climate change looks like.

A Wiradjuri man, Physical Geography researcher and Assistant Dean (Indigenous), Faculty of Science at the University of Melbourne, Associate Professor Michael-Shawn Fletcher is Director of Research Capability at the Indigenous Knowledge Institute.

Professor Fletcher's current work involves developing and integrating high-resolution palaeoenvironmental records from across the Southern Hemisphere using multiple proxies, including microfossil, charcoal, geochemical and isotopic analyses to provide comprehensive reconstructions of environmental change. His interests are in the long-term interactions between humans, climate, disturbance and vegetation at local, regional and global scales.

An experienced, award-winning journalist, Rae Johnston is a Wiradjuri woman, mother, broadcaster, voice actor and MC who is a leading commentator on all things science, technology, video games and geek culture.

A founding mentor of The Working Lunch program, which supports underrepresented entry-level people in games, she is a part of the prestigious "brains trust" Leonardos group for The Science Gallery Melbourne, a mentor for Science Media Centre Australia's Indigenous Science program, and a Federal Council Delegate for the MEAA.

The Hugh Williamson Foundation aims to support and strengthen communities in Melbourne and rural Victoria, establish educational opportunities and build leadership skills in young people, help the aged and economically and intellectually disadvantaged, and find ways to enhance the cultural life of all Victorians. This includes supporting environmental restoration. The Hugh Williamson Lecture is an annual event