One of Australia 's leading authorities on contemporary social issues in Aboriginal affairs, Marcia Langton was appointed Inaugural Professor of Australian Indigenous Studies at the University of Melbourne in 2000, having formerly held the Ranger Chair of Aboriginal Studies at the Northern Territory University from 1995 to 2000. In 2002 Marcia was named joint winner (with Larissa Behrendt of the University of Technology , Sydney ) of the inaugural Neville Bonner Award for Indigenous Teacher of the Year. The award recognised outstanding work by Indigenous university teachers.

Marcia is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia and was recently appointed to the Australian Vice-Chancellors' Committee on Indigenous Higher Education. In 1993 she was awarded an AM (General Member of the Order of Australia) for her services to anthropology and the advocacy of Aboriginal rights over two decades.

Marcia publishes widely on contemporary social issues in Aboriginal affairs, including land, resource and social impact issues, Indigenous dispute processing, policing and substance abuse, gender, identity, art, film and cultural studies. Marcia's current teaching commitments within the School of Anthropology , Geography and Environmental Studies at the University of Melbourne include three subjects: Garma Fieldwork, Place and Possession, and Native Title.