Vannessa Hearman is Associate Professor of History at Curtin University. She coordinates the History program and lectures in History.

A historian of Southeast Asia, Associate Professor Vannessa Hearman is an expert on Indonesia and Timor-Leste (East Timor). Her research is concerned with the effects of the Cold War in Asia, Australia’s engagements with Asia and the Pacific, and struggles for historical justice and human rights. 

Dr Hearman is leading two Australian Research Council (ARC) funded research projects: on the history and remembrance of East Timorese migration to Australia and contemporary art in Timor-Leste.

Her first book, Unmarked Graves: Death and Survival in the Anti-Communist Violence in East Java, Indonesia, is a study of the mass violence against the Left in Indonesia in 1965-68, and won the Asian Studies Association of Australia’s inaugural Early Career Book Prize in 2020. It was published in Indonesian translation by Footnote Press in late 2024. 

Her second book, The Good Sea: The Journey of the Tasi Diak and the Politics of Refugee Protection in Australia, was published by Melbourne University Publishing in May 2026. 

In addition, Dr Hearman has authored over 40 journal articles and book chapters. These are published in top-ranked journals in History and Asian Studies and edited collections on history, nationalism, mass violence and human rights.

Dr Hearman received her accreditation as an Indonesian translator (into English) and interpreter (both directions) from the National Accreditation Authority for Translators and Interpreters (NAATI) in 2003. She has co-translated Indonesian writer Putu Oka Sukanta’s poetry collection, Puisi Isolasi/Isolation Poems (Jakarta: Badak Merah, 2023). She is a member of the editorial board of Inside Indonesia and a former international history editor for Asian Studies Review (Taylor and Francis). 

Dr Hearman contributes to the History and Asian Studies field through her membership and involvement in the Asian Studies Association of Australia, Australian Historical Association, Historians of Southeast Asia network, the Timor-Leste Studies Association and the Association of Asian Studies (US). 

Over the course of her career, Dr Hearman has also worked in the aid and development sector, cross-cultural training, electoral administration, and higher education research and policy advice.