Eric Conte (born 1956)[1] is a French Polynesian historian and archeologist, who served as President of the University of French Polynesia from 2011 to 2017.
Conte is a professor of Oceanian ethnoarchaeology at the University of French Polynesia, specialising in the settlement of eastern Polynesia and the evolution of its pre-European societies.[2] Since 2006 he has directed UPF's International Center for Archeological Research in Polynesia.[3]
In June 2011 he was elected president of the UPF following the resignation of Louise Peltzer.[4] [5] He was re-elected as president in April 2013.[6] In 2016 he oversaw the establishment of a center for human sciences in the Pacific.[7] His term as president ended in April 2017, and he was replaced by Patrick Capolsini.
In May 2019 he edited Une histoire de Tahiti, des origines à nos jours ("A history of Tahiti, from its origins to the present day"), a collective work covering the history of eastern Polynesia.[8] [9]
In April 2023 he published Sur le chemin des étoiles ("On the way to the stars"), a work on Polynesian navigation.[3]