Abstract

In 1831, aged 22, the young naturalist, Charles Darwin, set sail on HMS Beagle for an epic 5-year voyage around the globe. What he didn’t realise at the time, was that his research conducted on that voyage would transform scientific paradigms permanently, not only in natural history, but in fields as diverse as ecology, medicine, epidemiology, geology, animal husbandry, horticulture, behaviour and human society. In the nearly 200 years since, much attention has been directed at Darwin’s findings, which are as current as ever. However much less critical attention has been directed at the methods he used to make these breakthroughs. In this seminar I will seek to unpack those methods to understand how such momentous outcomes were achieved and what insights can be gleaned for modern research. In short, Darwin’s seminal work - based on his field journal The Voyage of the Beagle (1839) and his subsequent analysis in The Origin of Species (1859) - relied entirely on non-numerical data and are a brilliant example of how qualitative research can lead to ground-breaking scientific advances.

Speaker

David Plummer AM, MA (Chichester), MBBS (Monash), PhD (ANU)

David holds a PhD in health sociology from NCEPH. His special interests include the social determinants of health, health equity and non-numerical research methods. David has worked in the Caribbean, Asia-Pacific, Europe and Africa. Previously he was based at the Royal Tropical Institute in Amsterdam and prior to that he held a joint Commonwealth/UNESCO Chair at the University of the West Indies, where he conducted research in a range of Caribbean and South American countries. He was also Adjunct Professor in Public Health at the University of Texas, Houston and between 2014 and 2018, he was Professor in Medicine and Head of Public Health at Griffith University. In 2003, David was appointed Member of the Order of Australia for services to public and community health.