Greater Brisbane Area
Dr Brit Asmussen is currently an independent research contractor. Brit worked in the GLAM sector from 2011-2025. She has 14 years of experience in the Museum sector working with various objects and collections, and serving in several senior management positions. This experience demonstrates significant skillsets, including developing and managing object, photographic and digital collections, completing scientific collections-based research, performing a variety of public outreach activities, cultivating collaborative partnerships, obtaining grants funding, and providing expert strategic management. She has undertaken object/ collections-based research with First Nations Peoples, in archaeology and biodiversity collections, and with others in antiquities, and digital collections. Brit has a strong academic track record. She has worked as a lecturer, tutor, HDR supervisor/mentor and consultant archaeologist in the University sector. Professional skills include high level research and analysis including archaeological, anthropological, historical and social research, data collection and analysis, professional writing, grant writing, policy writing, report writing and copy editing. She has published scientific collections-based research, developed and delivered exhibitions with outcomes in education and public programming. A cross-institutional collaborator across science, social science, and humanities disciplines in Australia and overseas, Brit has been a Partner Investigator on several grants, including the ARC Centre of Excellence in Australian Biodiversity and Heritage (CABAH) Australia’s Epic Story: Exploring 130,000 years of History; ARC Centre of Excellence for Indigenous and Environmental Histories and Futures (CIEHF) an ARC Linkage Sugarbags and Shellfish: Indigenous foodways in Colonial Cape York Peninsula https://researchers.mq.edu.au/en/projects/sugarbag-and-shellfish-indigenous-foodways-in-colonial-cape-york-, UK based Seachange: assessing major global cultural transitions on marine system functioning and biodiversity https://www.exeter.ac.uk/news/featurednews/title_757765_en.html. Antiquities focused research includes the First World War Antiquities Project with the R D Milns Antiquities Museum at the University of Queensland https://hpi.uq.edu.au/project/first-world-war-antiquities-project and Piecing together Amenhotep’s Book of the Dead, a large-scale (8000) object-based digital collection project https://projectdig.qm.qld.gov.au/ working with Dr John Taylor (British Museum).
• Enhance institutional research standing as an authority on Australian archaeology • Conduct original research, independently and collaboratively with researchers • Seek external funding • Provide guest lectures • Supervise, oversee, coach, mentor and train staff, volunteers and HDR students • Inform and liaise with Queensland Museum Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Consultative Committee (QMATSICC) concerning research, repatriation and exhibition matters • Develop, design, research content for exhibitions, present curatorial talks, tours • Develop and contribute to learning and engagement programs for all audiences • Engage, liaise with various Communities, co-curate with communities • Enhance and develop collections and ensure collection care, managed with due diligence • Develop the collections and experience for present and future generations Cultivate partnerships with leading cultural and academic organisations • Contribute to the development of a safe, stimulating, productive workplace • Work as part of project teams • Contribute expertise relating to Australian archaeology, humanities and related scholarly discipline • Support and promote the organisations mission and business objectives • Liaise effectively with staff, provide advice to program Head, professional bodies, and other groups • Initiating and completing collections acquisitions work associated with BAU duties and gallery exhibitions and external loans, completion of high-quality records incl. photography/digitisation • Perform administrative duties, including collections documentation, data entry, copyright Contribute to safety culture.
From the vault of the museum’s collection, Antiquities Revealed showcases objects from ancient Greek, Roman and Egyptian civilisations, connecting you with the past and providing insights into daily life, personal dress, technology, beliefs, art and more. Marvel at the tiny, the intricate and the well-loved items of everyday life from centuries ago. Move through the Mediterranean absorbing intriguing stories across space and time with more than 150 iconic objects. From the pottery used in daily life to the exquisitely adorned bell kraters (large mixing vessels) to and fragments of mosaic pavement from Pompeii, see the remnants of peoples’ lives, passions, creativity and innovation.
Caretaker role during recruitment process. Facilitated the work of the Queensland Museum with regard to the repatriation of Aboriginal Ancestral remains. Developed and maintained positive relations with Aboriginal people and communities and provided access to collections in the Queensland Museum's South Bank campus. Consultation and negotiation with Traditional Owners, other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community members, relevant state and federal government agencies, and Queensland Aboriginal organisations. Prepared reports, briefings and correspondence as required, including annual reporting and budget acquittal related to IRP grants.
Ocean conservation is a global concern, however we don’t currently know what the oceans were like before major impacts caused by humans. Using sediments, shells and bones, and a host of cutting-edge analysis techniques, the Seachange project aims to find out. The project will test the scale and rate of biodiversity loss as a result of fishing and habitat destruction over the last 2,000 years in the North Sea and around Iceland, eastern Australia and the west Antarctic Peninsula, as well as the earlier transition from hunter-gatherer to farming communities in northern Europe around 6,000 years ago. the project will discover how depleted the current marine environment is, what measures are needed to help biodiversity to recover and how long this might take. Jointly led by the University of Exeter, the University of York, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (Germany) and the University of Copenhagen (Denmark). http://www.exeter.ac.uk/news/research/title_757765_en.html
Historically, food was a key medium for cultural exchanges between Indigenous peoples and settler-colonists. Although the analysis of foodways is known to provide unparalleled insights on daily life, cultural values and social relationships, it has received limited attention in archaeological investigations of colonialism in Australia. This research proposes to trace Indigenous foodways in colonial Cape York Peninsula, Queensland, through a program of collaborative community-based archaeological and anthropological research. This will produce inclusive narratives of Indigenous peoples’ experiences of colonialism, and generate novel insights on the role of Indigenous foodways in the negotiation of power in colonial settings. INVESTIGATORS: Ross, Shawn (Primary Chief Investigator)Morrison, Michael (Chief Investigator)McNaughton, Darlene (Chief Investigator)Burke, Heather (Chief Investigator)Sobotkova, Adela, (Chief Investigator)Moffat, Ian (Chief Investigator)Asmussen, Brit (Partner Investigator)Claudie, David (Partner Investigator)
This project will both locate, research, and publish information about antiquities brought back as souvenirs by Queensland service personnel during the First World War and tell the stories of the service men and women who collected them. The project seeks to understand both the appeal of finding souvenirs during the war period, and the reasons for bringing them back to Australia. To date, approximately sixty artefacts from nine collections originally belonging to twelve personnel have been identified. These artefacts range from small curios such as scarabs and coins, through to mosaics and larger sculptures. Many artefacts are of Egyptian origin, acquired in situ while personnel were either training or convalescing. Other artefacts were acquired during the Sinai and Palestine Campaign (1915-1918), or by the signalmen of the ANZAC wireless corps stationed in Mesopotamia between 1916 and 1919. Team leaders: R.D. Milns Antiquities Museum; Dr Janette McWilliam and Mr James Donaldson