Roots, Recipes and Reciprocity: University - Community Partnerships Across Three Continents

What does it look like when university research, government partnerships, and community knowledge come together to create lasting change across three continents?

This discussion draws insights from a three-phase international engagement program that holistically addresses community development in disadvantaged areas in Australia, Cuba, and Brazil. Managed through community organisation Suns of Mercury in collaboration with the University of Melbourne, the program integrates online technologies with traditional knowledge to foster bi-directional learning — incorporating community experiences into university curricula while tackling waning cultural education, poor dietary health, and scarce employment opportunities.

Phase 1 (2021–present): Co-creating the Yoruba Heritage Virtual Tour (360-VR) with the Yoruba Heritage and Cultural Association of Victoria, preserving language and culture while facilitating university visits for young African Australians.

Phase 2 (2022–2024): Collaborating with the Iranlowo community association in Havana to build horticultural infrastructure rooted in traditional Yoruba-Cuban practices, improving nutritional health outcomes with DFAT Direct Aid Program funding.

Phase 3 (2023–present): Partnering with local leaders, the Rio Environment Ministry's "Hortas Cariocas" team, and Melbourne researchers in a Rio de Janeiro favela to co-select and grow 19 varieties of medicinal plants and build an online resource for residents and students.

Involving academic, governmental, and community partners across three countries, this initiative creates a local-global network of knowledge exchange empowering communities while enriching academic research and teaching for genuine public benefit.

Professor Adrian Hearn is an anthropologist who researches the cultural challenges and opportunities arising from international relations. His books include:

Food System Intermediaries: Bonding and Bridging in China, Latin America, and Australia (MIT Press 2025)
Diaspora and Trust: Cuba, Mexico, and the Rise of China (Duke University Press 2016)
The Changing Currents of Transpacific Integration (Lynne Rienner 2016)
China Engages Latin America (Lynne Rienner 2011)
Cuba: Religion, Social Capital, and Development (Duke University Press 2008)

Adrian's research is driven by questions about the interaction of global processes with local experiences. What can Latin American, Australian, and Chinese cities teach each other about sustainable community food production and consumption? How can environmental education programs work more closely with First Nation communities? How can artistic collaborations illuminate cross-cultural knowledge to inform local development and foreign policies? How might China's Belt and Road Initiative better address social and ecological concerns in partner countries?

Adrian explores these questions with funding from the Australian Research Council (ARC), the Open Society Foundations, the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP), the Council on Australia-Latin America Relations (COALAR), and others. Having lived in the United States for eleven years, Latin America for four years, and China for one year, he welcomes applications from national and international students seeking Masters or PhD supervision on these and related topics.

In addition to his academic work, Adrian leads a multicultural arts project called Suns of Mercury. The project's 360-degrees interactive film "Who Is Nature?" and 360 "Yoruba Heritage" virtual tour have featured in cultural festivals and classrooms in Australia, Latin America, and the United States. Suns of Mercury also manages Adrian's projects to support urban farmers in Cuba and Brazil, funded by the "Direct Aid" program of the Commonwealth Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT).