About Robert

I am a researcher, educator and entrepreneur in Digital Humanities specialising in the development of digital applications for research in the social science. Over the last two decades I have founded several information systems platforms for research in human evolution, archaeology, and anthropology, including The Global Rock Art Database, the world’s first centralised platform for global rock art research. My interdisciplinary approach bridges the gap between traditional research in the social sciences and modern technological advancements. Since 2015, I have turned my attention to the development of applications for social impact concerned with pressing global challenges expressed in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). I am an advocate for Digital Technologies for social impact, that contribute to community empowerment creating more resilient societies and improve our understanding and connection with our environment.

HIGHLIGHTS

“No Young Person Is A Write Off” $7,000 raised for Street University Community Garden in Southport
From Albo to Eddie: Digital solutions for First Nations a priority for all
How rock band Pearl Jam boosts Griffith’s northern digital literacy program – InQueensland
Machine Learning for Rock Art Motif Classification in an Educational Citizen Science App …
Chiaroscuro Photogrammetry: Revolutionizing 3D Modeling in Low Light Conditions for Arch…
Addressing the Digital Divide through Rock Art And Machine Learning
Digitising The Deep Past: Citizen Science, Machine Learning and Rock Art
VR & AI Fingerfluting Project: understanding physical characteristics of fluting artists
A Systematic Quantitative Literature Review of Southeast Asian and Micronesian Rock Art
Rock Art Big Screen Installation – Red Zone Griffith University on Nine News
Rock Art Database Presentation | Society for American Archaeology 2015 (San Francisco)
Scale and Granularity in Archaeological Data Management
Optimising the Potential of Research Data: Integrated Data Management, Life Cycle & Big Data
more …

Technology

Machine Learning for Rock Art Motif Classification in an Educational Citizen Science App …
Chiaroscuro Photogrammetry: Revolutionizing 3D Modeling in Low Light Conditions for Arch…
A collaborative, ontological and information visualization model approach in a centralized rock art heritage platform
Optimizing the Potential of Research Data: An Integrated Data Management Approach: Research Method, Data Life Cycle, Big Data and Linked Data

Design

Digitising The Deep Past: Citizen Science, Machine Learning and Rock Art
Addressing the Digital Divide through Rock Art And Machine Learning
Rock Art Big Screen Installation – Red Zone Griffith University on Nine News
The Sold Coast Project Symposium Visual Summary

Teaching

Through my work in digital technologies and social sciences, I have developed a teaching portfolio spanning from computer science and media technologies to communication studies, design and media theory. Meaningful digital applications are not just about technological advancements, but have real people at the heart of every application, impacting their culture, their identity, their lives, and their environment. Technology changes us, and we need to tread carefully, as design can change the world. The advancement of AI seems to spark new discussions in these fields, as we seek to understand our place in the universe, striving for positive change, healthy planet and building resilient societies through empowered communities.

“The real problem of humanity is the following: we have Paleolithic emotions, medieval institutions, and god-like technology.”

Edward Wilson, 2009

LECTURES IN 2025

Learn to develop meaningful AR and VR applications fit for purpose to address pressing societal issues
Learn Agile Development for developing software that addresses the UN Sustainable Development Goals

BOOKS AND IDEAS THAT CHANGED MY LIFE

Rosiling, H. (2018). Factfulness: Ten Reasons We’re Wrong About the World – And Why Things Are Better Than You Think
Rosling, H. (2010). Global population growth, box by box
Kahneman, Daniel. (2011). Thinking, Fast and Slow
Swartz, Aaron. (2006).Who writes Wikipedia? The Writings of Aaron Swartz. aaronsw.com/weblog/
Postman, Neil. (1985). Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business
McLuhan, M. (1964). Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man
Boroditsky , Lera. (2009). How does our language shape the way we think?
Baudrillard, J. (1981). Simulacra and Simulation
Merlot, J. (1956). The Rape of the Mind: The Psychology of Thought Control, Menticide, and Brainwashing
Wiener, N. (1964). God & Golem, Inc., A Comment on Certain Points where Cybernetics Impinges on Religion
Wright, Robert. (1999). Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny
Herman, E.S., Chomsky, N. (1988). Manufacturing Consent, The Political Economy of the Mass Media
Waitzkin , H. (1978). A Marxist view of medical care
Hoffman, D. (2019). The Case Against Reality: why evolution hid the truth from our eyes
Kant, I. (1781). Critique of Pure Reason
Schopenhauer , A. (1818). The World as Will and Representation
Decartes , R. (1641). Meditations on first philosophy
Benjamin, W. (1935). The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction
Einstein, A. (1934). Mein Weltbild
Fibonacci , L. (1202). Liber Abaci
Nigel, T. (1974). What is it like to be a bat?
Singer, P. (1972). Famine, Affluence, and Morality
Chalmers, D. (1996). The Conscious Mind: In Search of a Fundamental Theory
Chalmers, D. (2002). Philosophy of Mind: Classical and Contemporary Readings
Russel, B. (1903). The Principles of Mathematics (Note: Russell’s paradox)
Deleuze, G., Guattari, F. (1980). A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia
Marx,. K. (1848). The Communist Manifesto
Koshy, C.K. (2019). Rekindling Democracy through Digital Technology, TED Talk
Tang, A. (2020). Conversation with Tristan Harris and Forrest Landry
Feynman, R. (1963). The Feynman Lectures on Physics
Zuse, K. (1969). Rechnender Raum (Calculating Space)
Klemmer, S. (2020). Lecture 1.2 Introduction to Social Computing
Bülent Atalay, Ph.D. lecture on the world of Leonardo da Vinci
Closer To Truth. (2023). Can Music Probe Human Mentality? | Episode 2112
Tufte , E. (1990)Envisioning Information
The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Bu…
The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time