Dr Davies is a researcher whose work focuses on the social, industrial and environmental archaeology of colonial Australia, including the use of mercury in gold mining during European colonisation. He plays a leading role in the ARC-funded project ‘Rivers of Gold: The Legacy of Historical Gold Mining for Victoria’s Rivers’, which builds on previous ARC research on water management on the goldfields. Since completing his PhD in 2001 he has published several studies on mercury. His next book (with Professor Susan Lawrence, also a member of Mercury Australia), Sludge: Disaster on Victoria’s Goldfields, will be published by Black Inc in August 2019.