After 30 years of research, mostly focused in the Asia-Pacific region, Professor Nunn has accumulated a degree of expertise in a number of different fields. His primary field is geography, once largely physical in focus, but now straddling various aspects of sustainability. Professor Nunn has worked for a number of years in climate change, mostly on sea level and on the challenges of effective adaptation in poorer countries. He has also worked on archaeological topics, usually through the lens of palaeoenvironment reconstruction, but also applying his geological training to ceramic mineralogy and radiocarbon chronology. Since 2000, when a coup in Fiji interrupted a planned research programme, Professor Nunn became interested in myths as potential sources of information about geological hazards, particularly earthquakes and tsunamis, volcanic eruptions and abrupt coastal change. More at www.patricknunn.org
Experience
2014–present
Professor of Geography, University of the Sunshine Coast
2011–present
Adjunct Professor, University of the South Pacific
2014–present
Adjunct Professor, University of New England
2019–present
Adjunct Professor, Solomon Islands National University
Education
1983
University of London , PhD
1977
University of London, BSc (Honours)
Publications
2021
Worlds in Shadow: Submerged Lands in Science, Memory and Myth, Bloomsbury
2018
The Edge of Memory: Ancient Stories, Oral Tradition and the Post-Glacial World, Bloomsbury
2009
Vanished Islands and Hidden Continents of the Pacific, University of Hawaii Press
2007
Climate, Environment and Society in the Pacific during the Last Millennium, Elsevier
1999
Environmental Change in the Pacific Basin, Wiley, Chichester
1994
Oceanic Islands, Blackwell, Oxford
Research Areas
Atmospheric Sciences (0401)
Geology (0403)
Physical Geography And Environmental Geoscience (0406)
Environmental Science And Management (0502)
Anthropology (1601)
Human Geography (1604)
Cultural Studies (2002)
Archaeology (2101)
Historical Studies (2103)
Religion And Religious Studies (2204)
Honours
Gregory Medal of the Pacific Science Association (2003); shared award of Nobel Peace Prize to IPCC (2007); JP Thomson Gold Medal of the Royal Geographical Society of Queensland (2018)