Indigenous Higher Education Curriculum Conference

The Indigenous Higher Education Curriculum Conference will be a two-day conference held at UTS on Tuesday 29 and Wednesday 30 November 2022.

The purpose of the conference is to highlight that Australian universities are progressively embedding Indigenous perspectives into higher education curriculum to provide students with Indigenous graduate attributes to work with and for Indigenous Australians across their chosen professions.

The Indigenous Higher Education Curriculum Conference will create a national community of practice forum to promote the ethical embedding of Indigenous perspectives across higher education curriculum and provide a setting for university academics to share their examples of design, development and delivery of Indigenous curriculum.

We delighted to announce the following speakers for the Indigenous Higher Education Curriculum Conference.

Keynote Speaker

• Professor Bronwyn Fredericks - Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Indigenous Engagement) University of Queensland, NAIDOC Education Award 2022

International Plenary Panel

• Dr Jeff Ganohalidoh Corntassel - Professor of Indigenous Studies; Associate Director, Centre for Indigenous Research and Community-Led Engagement, University of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
• Dr Carwyn Jones - Pūkenga Matua – Lead Academic, Ahunga Tikanga – Māori Laws and Philosophy, Te Wānanga o Raukawa
• Professor Juanita Sherwood - Professor of Australian Indigenous Education at the University of Technology Sydney

Keynote Speaker

Professor Bronwyn Fredericks, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Indigenous Engagement) University of Queensland and NAIDOC Education Award recipient

As Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Indigenous Engagement), Professor Fredericks is responsible for leading the implementation of the Indigenous strategy and strengthening leadership within the University in relation to Indigenous Engagement, as well as building links with the community. She is also leading the implementation of UQ’s first Reconciliation Action Plan. Professor Bronwyn Fredericks has over 30 years of experience working in and with the tertiary sector, State and Federal Governments, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community-based organisations.

In 2017 Professor Fredericks was appointed as one of two Commissioners with the Queensland Productivity Commission (QPC) and was the presiding commissioner leading the Inquiry into Service Provision in Discrete and Remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities. In 2019, she was a Commissioner with the Inquiry into Imprisonment and Recidivism, and in 2018, a Commissioner with the Inquiry into Manufacturing in Queensland.

Bronwyn is a member of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) Research Advisory Committee, the Beyond Blue National Research Advisory Committee, Chair of Universities Australia’s DVC/PVC Indigenous Committee, and on numerous other Queensland and national annual awards and policy committees, as well as being a member of the Australian Research Council’s (ARC) College of Experts. Bronwyn has been a recipient of research awards and fellowships, including both Endeavour and NHMRC awards and in recognition of her research.

International Plenary Panel

Dr. Jeff Ganohalidoh Corntassel

Professor of Indigenous Studies; Associate Director, Centre for Indigenous Research and Community-Led Engagement, University of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

Dr. Jeff Ganohalidoh Corntassel is a writer, teacher and father from the Cherokee Nation. He is a Professor in Indigenous Studies, and cross-listed Professor in the Political Science Department at the University of Victoria as well as Associate Director of the Centre for Indigenous Research and Community-Led Engagement (CIRCLE). Jeff’s research and teaching interests focus on “Everyday Acts of Resurgence” and the intersections between Indigenous internationalism, community resurgence, climate change, gender, and community well-being.

Corntassel situates his work at the grassroots with many Indigenous led community-based programs and initiatives ranging from local food movement initiatives, land-based renewal projects to gendered colonial violence and protection of homelands. He is currently completing work for his forthcoming book on Sustainable Self-Determination, which examines Indigenous climate justice, food security, and gender-based resurgence.

Dr Carwyn Jones

Pūkenga Matua – Lead Academic, Ahunga Tikanga – Māori Laws and Philosophy

Te Wānanga o Raukawa

Carwyn Jones (Ngāti Kahungunu) holds undergraduate degrees from Victoria University of Wellington and a PhD from the University of Victoria, British Columbia. His primary research interests relate to the Treaty of Waitangi and Indigenous legal traditions. Prior to joining the faculty at Te Wānanga o Raukawa, he was an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Law at Victoria University of Wellington, having previously worked at the Waitangi Tribunal, the Māori Land Court, and the Office of Treaty Settlements, and having served as a negotiator for the settlement of the historical claims of his own community.

He retains a connection with Victoria University as an Honorary Adjunct Professor in the School of Māori Studies. He is Co-Editor of the Māori Law Review, a former Co-President of Te Hunga Rōia Māori (the Māori Law Society), and the author of New Treaty, New Tradition – Reconciling Māori and New Zealand Law.

Professor Juanita Sherwood

Professor of Australian Indigenous Education at the University of Technology Sydney

Professor Juanita Sherwood is a proud Wiradjuri woman and is a registered nurse, teacher, lecturer, researcher and manager with a depth of working experiences of some thirty years in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health and education. Professor Sherwood has a PhD from the University of New South Wales, and has previously worked in lecturing, research, management and consultative roles in health, education and Indigenous studies, with her most recent role being Professor of Australian Indigenous Education at the University of Technology Sydney.

Professor Juanita Sherwood has previously held the positions of PVC Indigenous Engagement at Charles Sturt University and Academic Director at the National Centre for Cultural Competence at the University of Sydney, with a mandate to engage, innovate and lead in cultural competence. Professor Sherwood has pushed boundaries from grassroots, community-based position that seeks to engage with and build capability within communities, deliver culturally safe models and research methodologies in partnership with communities and recognise in policy and practice the straight line between world views and social justice.


For further enquiries please contact the UTS Indigenous Teaching and Learning Team at IndigenousTL@uts.edu.au 

We look forward to seeing everyone at the conference gathering in November.

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