Indigenous Studies: Bringing Knowledge Forward
Description
This conference brings together Indigenous scholars, creatives and allies to showcase Indigenous studies scholarship, knowledges and creative practices. It is interdisciplinary and attendance is open to all scholars and community members working in Indigenous studies, Indigenous research and associated fields.
Full conference program:
Day 1 – Wednesday 28 October 2026 | |||
Time | Session | Panel / Session Title | Details / Panellists |
10:30am–10:45am | Acknowledgement and housekeeping |
| Acknowledgement: Aunty Glendra Stubbs, UTS Elder-in-Residence Opening: Professor Kyas Hepworth (Associate Dean, Indigenous Leadership and Engagement, Faculty of Design & Society) |
10:45am–11:15am | Morning tea |
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11:15am–12:30pm | Panel Discussion
| Country as Teacher: Looking Back and Looking Forward | The Country as Teacher project has been operating for over five years, with steady success embedding Indigenous knowledge into school curricula. Join the people at the heart of the academic work for a discussion of the past and future of Country as Teacher in schools and universities. Panel host/lead: Professor Benny Wilson (Institute of Education, Faculty of Design & Society) Panellists: David Spillman is a man with obligations to Jagera/Ugarapul Country and who underwent his cultural learning on Karulkiyalu Country. He is one of the co-founders of the Country as Teacher approach and was the first to implement it in university classrooms. He is a well-respected and widely referenced educator and researcher. Jordan Harrison is a former research assistant on the Country as Teacher research project, and co-founder and facilitator of the Country as Teacher Practitioner Network. His passions lie in the Dolphins finals hopes and invigorating humans desire to know, love and care for the places they live. Monty Nixon is a PhD candidate, former research assistant on the Country as Teacher research project, lecturer and co-founder of the Country as Teacher Practitioner Network. His work seeks to help teachers embed their practice in Indigenous ways of knowing, being and doing that centre learning from and caring for Country. Eli Archer is a Palawa woman, mother, educator, and artist. Her main interest is in reinvigorating Indigenous pedagogical processes in schools in order to help students and families know and understand their local places, explore their own stories of relationship and connection to those places, and live their obligation and commitment to care for them. |
12:30pm–1:30pm | Lunch | ||
1:30pm–3:00pm | Panel Discussion | winhangali bu winhangagi bu ngurambang gu | Western cartographic practices have caused ongoing harm to Country, Aboriginal Peoples and cultural belonging by supporting terra nullius, dispossession, erasure and extraction, while Indigenous mapping practices have long held radically different relationships and obligations to Country. Through Aboriginal, migrant and diasporic Australian perspectives, this panel explores counter-mapping as an act of refusal and a way to assert and defend relationships with Country, home and homeland(s). Panel host/lead: Matte Ager-McConnell (Lecturer, Discipline of Architecture, Faculty of Design & Society) Panellists: TBC |
3:00pm–3:30pm | Afternoon tea | ||
3:30pm–5:00pm | Roundtable Panel Discussion | Indigenous Higher Degree Research Trajectories: Travelling with and alongside the academy | Pathways in and out of PhD research are increasingly diverse and open-ended. This roundtable considers the opportunities, challenges and unexpected turns in higher degree research in Indigenous Studies and research with Indigenous communities. Panellists: Dr Latoya Aroha Rule, Research Fellow, Jumbunna Institute Dr Grant Saunders, Writer/Director/Producer, UNSW Genevieve Murray, Lecturer in Architecture, University of Sydney Chair: Associate Professor Timothy Laurie, Higher Degree Research Coordinator, School of Communication and Social Sciences, Faculty of Design and Society |
5:00pm–5:30pm | Networking and break | ||
5:30pm–7:00pm | Keynote session #1 | Tony Birch – Keynote address | Title: A writing life – Tony Birch in conversation with Anna Clark Acknowledgement: Aunty Glendra Stubbs, UTS Elder-in-Residence
Introduction by: Professor Kyas Hepworth (Associate Dean, Indigenous Leadership and Engagement, Faculty of Design & Society)
Speakers: Professor Tony Birch, Boisbouvier Chair in Australian Literature School of Culture and Communication, University of Melbourne Professor Anna Clark, Australian Centre for Public History, UTS |
Day 2 – Thursday 29 October | |||
10:30am–10:45am | Arrival and morning tea | ||
10:45am–11:00am | Acknowledgement and housekeeping | ||
11:00am–12:15pm | Panel Discussion
| Is Agri-Solar (Agrivoltaics) the "Key to Energy Security and Self-Determination"? | Could agrivoltaics help remote First Nations communities achieve energy and food security, create local on-Country employment and improve biodiversity management? This panel examines research using agrivoltaics to reduce carbon footprints, strengthen local food production and deliver educational outcomes. Panellists: Dr Allan Teale, School of Architecture and Built Environment Steve Jones, Ochre Ventures Peter Irga, UTS researcher |
12:15pm–1:00pm | Lunch | ||
1:00pm–1:45pm | Paper Presentation | My journey as a Koori Girl from Beach to University and Academia, and all that is in between | Presenter: Frances Grant, Lecturer, Social and Political Sciences, Faculty of Design & Society Frances Grant will share her story of growing up in social housing, developing her aspirations, and her journey to becoming an academic at UTS and beginning her PhD. |
1:45pm–2:45pm | Panel Discussion | Media Literacy in Communities | How do we get good information out to communities? This panel will use case studies from Media Diversity Australia and its relationships to explore what media literacy means and how this meets (or does not meet) community needs. Format: In-conversation discussion. Panel lead: Panellists: Paula Kruger, Peta MacGillivray and Tasha James – specialists in Australian media, communications and the contemporary media landscape, bringing perspectives from industry, broadcasting and community engagement |
2:45pm–3:15pm | Afternoon tea | ||
3:15pm–4:45pm | Panel Discussion | Sovereign Stories: New Indigenous Writing and Literary Leadership | Inaugural Copyright Agency–UTS Indigenous Writers' Fellows Mykaela Saunders and Darby Jones talk with author and UTS Creative Writing lecturer Tess Scholfield-Peters about new work, cultural authority on the page, and what literary leadership asks of emerging Indigenous writers. Panellists: Mykaela Saunders Darby Jones
Lead: Tess Schofield, Lecturer, Creative Writing, Faculty of Design & Society
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4:45pm–5:00pm | Closing | ||
5:00pm–5:30pm | Networking and break
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5:30pm–7:00pm | Keynote session #2 | Power, institutions and the public good | Introduction by Professor James Bennett, Faculty of Design & Society Speakers: Distinguished Professor Larissa Behrendt AO, Laureate Fellow, Jumbunna Institute Dr Archie Thomas, Chancellors Research Fellow, Social & Political Sciences, Faculty of Design & Society
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Lineup
Day One Keynote session - A writing life – Tony Birch in Conversation with Anna Clark
Date: 28th October 2026 Time: 5:30 - 7 pm Professor Tony Birch, Boisbouvier Chair in Australian Literature, School of Culture and Communication, University of Melbourne Professor Anna Clark, Australian Centre for Public History, UTS
Day Two Keynote session - Power, institutions and the public good
Introduction by Professor James Bennett, Faculty of Design & Society Speakers: Distinguished Professor Larissa Behrendt AO, Laureate Fellow, Jumbunna Institute Dr Archie Thomas, Chancellors Research Fellow, Social & Political Sciences, Faculty of Design & Society
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