Matthew Spriggs is one of the senior and most respected figures in international archaeology today, with an expertise in Oceanic archaeology, archaeology and language, the meshing of aDNA and archaeological data, the history of archaeology and archaeological theory.  He completed a 5-year Australian Research Council Laureate Fellowship on the history of Pacific archaeology last year and is a Professor at ANU, graduating to Emeritus status on 31 March 2021.

He is usually an annual visitor to Cambridge, most recently for two stints as a Leverhulme Visiting Professor, and a major ally and advisor to Cambridge Archaeology at the senior international level. He is developing collaborative projects with Cambridge on the comparative archaeology of islands, with a view to a major conference to be held here, probably now in 2022 or 2023. He also has a long-term collaboration with staff of CUMAA, most recently towards a major Exhibition and Conference in Vanuatu for the 250th Anniversary of Cook’s visit there, and more generally on the history of Pacific archaeology.