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Key Points for Professor Adam Brumm

Adam Brumm is a world-leading archaeologist whose discoveries have redefined our understanding of human creativity, leadership, and storytelling.
His journey from rural Queensland to global recognition illustrates the power of curiosity, collaboration, and persistence in achieving remarkable results.
Adam connects lessons from archaeology to leadership, teamwork, and innovation, showing how ancient collaboration fuels modern success.
Known for his engaging and authentic storytelling, Adam inspires audiences to lead with purpose, creativity, and courage in times of change.

Topics for Professor Adam Brumm

The human story: What our ancestors teach us about leadership and change
Adam takes audiences on a captivating journey into the ancient origins of creativity and collaboration, revealing how the leadership qualities that shaped early human survival, vision, adaptability, and courage - remain vital in business today.
Digging deep: Persistence, discovery, and the curiosity of great leaders
Through gripping stories from the field, Adam explores how curiosity and persistence drive both discovery and leadership. This keynote encourages teams to embrace uncertainty, lead with resilience, and turn challenges into breakthroughs.
The art of collaboration: Leadership lessons from ancient teams
Archaeology is built on teamwork. Drawing parallels between prehistoric cooperation and modern organisational success, Adam shows how trust, communication, and shared vision enable teams, ancient or modern, to achieve the extraordinary.
The deep-time world of Bluey
This talk focuses on a little-known aspect of Australia’s biggest cultural export, the beloved children’s animated series Bluey. Adam Brumm is the older brother of Bluey creator Joe Brumm and part inspo for the Dad character in the show, Bandit Heeler, who, like Adam, is an archaeologist. Fans of Bluey may have noticed images of ancient fossils and cave art in Bandit’s home office, and there is a number of other artefacts and antiquities scattered around the Heeler household, including mysterious stone tools made by our Homo erectus ancestors. Adam will provide unique insight into these cryptic references to archaeology in Bluey, each of which tells a fascinating story about our evolutionary past and the origin of what it means to be human.

Testimonials for Professor Adam Brumm

He imbued his [school] presentation with great intellect, humor, and warmth, using rigorous scientific research to explain the details of his investigations while sharing personal reflections that grounded his work in something relatable for his audience. When he concluded his talk, a handful of the school’s educators offered him a standing ovation…something I have never witnessed at a scientific presentation. I will remember this experience with great fondness.
Executive Director
The Leakey Foundation
San Francisco, USA

Professor Brumm delivered one of the most engaging and exciting lectures we have seen in some time during The Leakey Foundation’s meetings in May 2024. Professor Brumm’s work on the earliest cave art found not in Europe, but in southeastern Asia, mesmerized the audience. His discoveries highlight the important fact that human-ness and cultural innovation are not confined to Europe, but that humans all over the world are developing and innovating. The evidence he presented was compelling, and the audience members were on the edge of their seats the whole time. Afterward, there was a terrific buzz about this work. Professor Brumm’s investigations get at the heart of what makes us human, and his clear, enthusiastic explanations generated enthusiasm among scientists and non-scientists alike. Professor Brumm and his research are assets to his university and people worldwide seeking to understand how and why we became human.
Curators' Distinguished Professor, Integrative Anatomy Program, Department of Pathology and Anatomical Sciences
Adjunct Professor, Department of Anthropology
Co-Chair, The Leakey Foundation’s Scientific Executive Committee
University of Missouri
San Francisco, USA

Not only has Adam Brumm’s recent discoveries of Ice Age cave paintings in Sulawesi revealed the earliest evidence of Homo sapiens’ penetration into southern Asia, but it also illustrates the deep-time storytelling of human artistic culture. Professor Brumm has continued the storytelling nature of humans to this day. He is an especially talented science explainer, an essential facet of the public understanding of scientific knowledge and human origins.
President, Board of Trustees
The Leakey Foundation
San Francisco, USA

Professor Brumm has an amazing ability to reach and teach young people. He was a guest speaker at an inner-city high school, of which I’m the chairman. He connected with the kids and swept them up as he shared his love of science and research. Most stayed through their lunch break —they didn’t want to leave. That’s saying something!
Global Managing Partner, Accenture (retired)
Chairman of the Board, Salesian College Preparatory School,
San Francisco, USA