Let's talk: Making space for First Nations Australians at Australian universities

Location: Room 1A21 Theatrette, Building 1, University of Canberra

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Increasingly, attempts are being made to embed First Nations peoples knowledges into the life of the academy. University planning documents and websites explicitly state this objective and mention such aspirational measures as the employment of more First Nations peoples and the need for First Nations-led research.

This one-day symposium invites First Nations Australian perspectives on, and experiences with, working in Australian universities. The symposium is directed at amplifying the stories, strategies, and scholarship of First Nations Researchers while also building space for cross-cultural collaboration that leads to systemic transformation. 

Topics that will be discussed include:

• Do Australian universities provide welcoming spaces for First Nations people?

• What considerations lead to the building of culturally safe spaces at universities?

• The colonial load. How’s that working?

• Strategies for attracting and retaining First Nations PhD candidates and academics.

• Working towards building cross-cultural collaborations.

Keynote speaker: Professor Chelsea Watego, QUT

Professor Chelsea Watego (formerly Bond) is a Munanjahli and South Sea Islander woman with over 20 years of experience working within Indigenous health as a health worker and researcher. She is the Executive Director of QUT’s Carumba Institute, and her scholarship has drawn attention to the role of race in the production of health inequalities. Her current ARC Discovery Grant seeks to build an Indigenist Health Humanities as a new field of research; one that is committed to the survival of Indigenous peoples locally and globally, foregrounding Indigenous intellectual sovereignty and leading to the formation of an Indigenous critical race theory. She is a prolific writer and public intellectual, having written for IndigenousX, NITV, The Guardian, and The Conversation. She is a founding board member of Inala Wangarra, an Indigenous community development association within her community, a Director of the Institute for Collaborative Race Research, but most importantly, she is also a proud mum to five beautiful children. Her debut book Another Day in the Colony, published by UQ Press, was released in November 2021 and met with critical acclaim.

See Program below.

Light lunch and refreshments will be provided.

More information :

Wendy Somerville

First Nations Post-Doctoral Research Fellow

Centre for Creative and Cultural Research

Wendy.Somerville@canberra.edu.au

Katie Hayne

Research Development Officer

Centre for Creative and Cultural Research

Katie.hayne@canberra.edu.au

Location:
Room 1A21 Theatrette (behind Mizzuna Cafe), Level A, Building 1
University of Canberra

9:00am Arrive (for 9:15 am start)

9:00  Coffee and tea (available to purchase at Mizzuna’s café)

9:15  Welcome to Country, Delephene Fraser and Introduction, Dr Wendy Somerville, UC

9:30 Keynote, Professor Chelsea Watego, QUT

10:20am–10:50 Light morning tea (provided)

10:50–11:20  Djeera Behind the Glass: Reclaiming Relationality in a Policy-Driven Academy

Dr Crystal Arnold, UoW

11:20–11:50 Indigenous Women’s Inclusion in the Workplace: Setting the Blak Agenda

Assoc. Prof Sharlene Leroy-Dyer, UQ

11:50–12:20 Promoting a strengths-based medical curriculum: an exploration of embedding the Cultural Determinants of Health

Meg Maree Kelly, UoW

12:20pm–1:20pm Light lunch (provided)

1:20–1:50 University collections as culturally safe places through co-design and collaboration
Delephene Fraser, UC

Please note the venue for the governance workshop below is Building 2, Room 2B02. 

1:50–2:50 Governance of Indigenous Research Centres: Enhancing community participation in research decision making (workshop/yarning circle)
Associate Professor Elfie Shiosaki, Associate Professor Mandy Yap, Dr Francis Markham, Dr Yonatan Dinku (ANU)

2:50pm–3:20pm Afternoon coffee and tea (provided)

3:20–3:50 Strategies for attracting and retaining First Nations PhD candidates and academics Dr Justin Wilkey (UMelb)

3:50–4:30 Sharing Cultural Strength: Yarning Circle

Ashley van den Heuvel (UC)

Finish 4:30pm