Daniel May

Position: Graduated PhD Student
School and/or Centres: School of History

Email: daniel.may@anu.edu.au

Phone: (02) 612 52357

Location: Level 5, Room 5.26, Desk A, 146 Ellery Cres

Qualification:

Bachelor of Arts and Social Sciences, Honours, First Class (University of New South Wales) Bachelor of Science (University of New South Wales) Bachelor of Arts (University of New South Wales)

Thesis title: Taking Fire: The Historical And Contemporary Politics Of Indigenous Burning In Australia And The Western United States

Daniel May is a PhD Candidate and environmental historian in the School of History. His thesis investigates the political and cultural history of Indigenous burning and fire management policy in Australia and the Western United States. His work has taken him to the Top End, to Perth, across Victoria, and for four months in 2018, all over the United States through an Endeavour Research Fellowship. He has participated in prescribed burns, worked with Indigenous fire practitioners, and presented to policymakers through bodies including the Bushfire and Natural Hazards Cooperative Research Centre and the Australian Policy and History Network. Daniel has published on bushfire history, the politics of land management, and the integration of predictive modelling into decision-making.

 

Environmental history, Australian history, History & Philosophy of Science, Indigenous history, History of the American West, policy history, intellectual history

Publications (Peer-reviewed)

2020                     (with Timothy Neale), ‘Fuzzy boundaries: simulation and the cultural dimensions of expertise in bushfire prediction’, Social Studies of Science (Online early access) https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0306312720906869

2017                     (with Timothy Neale), ‘Bushfire simulators and analysis in Australia: insights into an emerging sociotechnical practice’, Environmental Hazards, Vol. 13 No. 3, pp. 200-218 https://doi.org/10.1080/17477891.2017.1410462 

Publications (Other)

2020                     ‘Shallow Fire Literacy Hinders Robust Fire Policy: Black Saturday and Prescribed Burning Debates’. In Disasters in Australia and New Zealand: Historical Approaches to Understanding Catastrophe, eds. Scott McKinnon and Margaret Cook (Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore), pp. 139-158.

2020                     ‘To burn or not to burn is not the question’, Inside Story, https://insidestory.org.au/to-burn-or-not-to-burn-is-not-the-question/> (Republished in multiple magazines including Fire Australia No. 2 2020)

2019                     “Daniel May reviews 'Black Saturday: Not the end of the story' by Peg Fraser”, Australian Book Review 412 (June-July 2019), https://www.australianbookreview.com.au/abr-online/current-issue/251-june-july-2019-no-412/5493-daniel-may-reviews-black-saturday-not-the-end-of-the-story-by-peg-fraser

2018                     ‘Why Australian retailers should respect the past and rename their ‘Black Friday’ sales’, The Conversation,   https://theconversation.com/why-australian-retailers-should-respect-the-past-and-rename-their-black-friday-sales-107015> (16,800 readers as of 2/12/18)

2018                     ‘Fire in Northern California’, Stories from the field, ANU Centre for Environmental History, https://ceh.environmentalhistory-au-nz.org/stories-from-the-field/fire-in-northern-california/>

2017                     ‘Fire in the Environment’, Stories from the field, ANU Centre for Environmental History, http://ceh.environmentalhistory-au-nz.org/stories-from-the-field/fire-in-the-environment/>

2017                     ‘Black Friday Bushfires and the Beginning of the Stretton Royal Commission’, This Month In History, ANU School of History, http://history.cass.anu.edu.au/monthinhistory/black-friday-bushfires-and-beginning-stretton-royal-commission-january-1939>     

 

 

 

2018 ‘Fire in Northern California’, Stories from the field, ANU Centre for Environmental History, https://ceh.environmentalhistory-au-nz.org/stories-from-the-field/fire-in-northern-california/>
2017 (with Timothy Neale), ‘Bushfire simulators and analysis in Australia: insights into an emerging sociotechnical practice’, Environmental Hazards, Vol. 13 No. 3, pp. 200-218 https://doi.org/10.1080/17477891.2017.1410462 
2017 “Matthew J. Colloff , Flooded Forest and Desert Creek: Ecology and History of the River Red Gum, Melbourne: CSIRO Publishing, 2014, 325 pp., ISBN 9 7806 4310 9193, A$69.95” [Book Review], Queensland Review, 24 (2), 325-326. https://doi.org/10.1017/qre.2017.44
2017 ‘Fire in the Environment’, Stories from the field, ANU Centre for Environmental History, http://ceh.environmentalhistory-au-nz.org/stories-from-the-field/fire-in-the-environment/>
2017 ‘Black Friday Bushfires and the Beginning of the Stretton Royal Commission’, This Month In History, ANU School of History, http://history.cass.anu.edu.au/monthinhistory/black-friday-bushfires-and-beginning-stretton-royal-commission-january-1939>
2016 ‘Taking Fire: Understandings of Indigenous Burning and Environmental Politics in Australia and the United States, 1910-2015’, Australian Policy and History, December 2016, http://aph.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Daniel-May_Policy-and-History-Publication_APH-WorkshopFINAL.pdf>

Ptojects

2020: Research Assistant and co-author, Pyrosecurity: understanding and managing bushfires in a changing climate, Deakin University (with Tim Neale)
2018: Developer and coordinator, online workshop #Twitterstorians101 via twitter (with Will Scates-Frances)
2018: Committee Member, Australian Historical Association Annual Conference Committee
2017-2018: Student Researcher, Hazards, culture and Indigenous communities (Bushfire & Natural Hazards Cooperative Research Centre)
2016 – 2018: Postgraduate Representative, Australian Historical Association (with Annemarie McLaren and Melanie Burkett)

Grants

2021                 AHA-Copyright Agency Travel and Writing Bursary (Deferred to 2021)

2020                 Travel and Accommodation Grant, AusSTS Interdisciplinary Workshop (C. COVID-19)

2019                 Australian Policy and History Travel Grant, School of History, Australian National University

2019                 Centre for the Study of the Inland Travel Grant, La Trobe University

2018                 Endeavour Research Fellowship Travel Grant, Commonwealth of Australia

2016                 Annual History Colloquium Travel Grant, Centre for Environmental History, Australian National University

2016                 Taking Australian Knowledge Society Seriously Travel Grant, University of Wollongong

2015                 Annual History Colloquium Travel Grant, Centre for Environmental History, Australian National University

2015                 Visualising the Environmental Humanities Travel Grant, Sydney Environment Institute


 

Awards

2016                 Moran Award for History of Science Research, Australian Academy of Science

2015                 Ian Langham Prize, Australasian Association for the History, Philosophy, and Social Studies of Science (Best Postgraduate Paper)

2013                 Dean’s List, Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences, University of New South Wales

 

Fellowships & Scholarships

2018                 Endeavour Research Fellowship, Commonwealth of Australia

2018                 Visiting Scholar at Geography and Planning Department, California State University (Chico)

2015                 Australian Postgraduate Award/Australian Government Research Training Program Stipend Scholarship, Australian National University

 

Australian Postgraduate Award, Australian National University (2015-2018)

2018 Endeavour Research Fellowship, Australia Awards
2018 Visiting Scholar, Geography and Planning Department, California State University (Chico)
2016 Annual History Colloquium Travel Grant, Centre for Environmental History (ANU)
2016 Moran Award for History of Science Research, Australian Academy of Science
2015 Annual History Colloquium Travel Grant, Centre for Environmental History (ANU)
2015 Ian Langham Prize, Australasian Association for the History, Philosophy, and Social Studies of Science (Best Postgraduate Paper)
2015-2018 Australian Postgraduate Award/Australian Government Research Training Program Stipend Scholarship
 

American Society for Environmental History                                                                                                   

Bushfire & Natural Hazards Cooperative Research Centre                                                                                                                 

Australian Historical Association (Postgraduate Representative 2016-2018, Executive Officer 2020)

Australasian Association for the History, Philosophy, and Social Studies of Science                                                                                                   

Australian Forest History Society

Centre for Environmental History, ANU

Forest History Society (USA)

HIST2136 World at War (Sessional Tutor & Contributing Lecturer) (2020)

Guest lecturer, HIST1214 Empires in Global History (2020)

Guest lecturer, ENVS1001 Environment and Society: Geography and Sustainability (2019, 2020)

Writing Coach, ANU Academic Skills & Learning Centre (2019)

HIST2136 World at War (Sessional Tutor & Contributing Lecturer) (2018)

HIST2136 World at War (Sessional Tutor) (2017)

HIST1214 Clash of Empires (Sessional Tutor) (2016)

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