Professor Lynette Russell AM FASSA FAHA (Sir John Monash Distinguished Professor and ARC Kathleen Fitzpatrick Laureate Professor at Monash University’s Indigenous Studies Centre) is an award-winning historian and Indigenous studies scholar. Her research is broadly anthropological history. Russell has published widely in the areas of theory, Indigenous histories, post-colonialism and representations of race, museum studies and popular culture.

Russell’s Aboriginal ancestors were born on the lands of the Wotjobaluk people, and she is descended from convicts on the other side of her family; she is rather uniquely placed as an historian. She has collaborated with scholars in archaeology, anthropology and environmental studies, and worked in various Aboriginal organisations. She holds or has held positions on committees and reference groups pertaining to Melbourne Museum, the State Library of Victoria and the Collections Council of Australia as well as being a former president of the Australian Historical Association.

She is an elected member of AIATSIS and, in 2023, she was elected a Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She was elected to the Royal Historical Society and the Royal Anthropological Institute, both in London. In addition, she has held two fellowships at Cambridge University and one at All Souls at Oxford University. Russell believes fervently that every undergraduate should undertake Indigenous studies as an essential part of the curriculum.