BSc (Hons) (Anthropology), University College London MPhil (Anthropology), London University MA (Linguistics), The Australian National University

The anthropological demography of Australian Aboriginal populations, population structure and dynamics in remote Aboriginal Australia, and the representation of Aboriginal people in the national census. The anthropology and linguistics of the Yolngu-speaking peoples of north east Arnhem Land. Social, cultural and economic aspects of the encapsulation of Aboriginal Australians within the Australian state, in particular the homelands movement, land rights and native title, the governance of Aboriginal community organisations, the impact of colonisation on Indigenous social systems and languages, and problems of cross-cultural 'translation'.

With Bill Arthur, Frances is the co-editor of the award-winning Macquarie Atlas of Indigenous Australia (2nd edn published 2019). In an earlier stage of her career she was a commissioning editor at Oxford University Press, Oxford.