Sarah Holcombe

research interests

Sarah is a Principal Research Fellow at the Centre for Social Responsibility in Mining (CSRM) and a social anthropologist with more than 20 years’ experience conducting applied and academic research with Indigenous Australians. Her work is grounded in long-term, collaborative research with Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory and other remote regions, including the Pilbara and Kimberley regions of Western Australia. Sarah’s research addresses the intersection of Indigenous rights, extractive industries and development, with a particular focus on the political economy of mining, mine closure, land use agreements and the enduring impacts of resource development on Indigenous communities. She convenes an annual professional development course on Indigenous Cultural heritage management in the extractives sector. Sarah has published widely on human rights, social exclusion and marginality, gendered violence, Aboriginal community governance and service delivery, and the ethical governance of Indigenous knowledge and intellectual property. Much of Sarah’s work is cross-disciplinary and industry-engaged, including ARC Linkage projects with mining companies and national organisations, and applied research for government and research agencies. She was awarded an ARC Future Fellowship (2012-2016) and she has contributed to the development of ethical protocols and guidelines for collaborative research with Indigenous knowledge holders and has held national leadership roles in research ethics and anthropology.