Centre for Creative and Cultural Research
11 Kirinari Street
Bruce ACT 2617
cccr@canberra.edu.au
Higher Degree by Research enquiries:
artsanddesignhdr@canberra.edu.au
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 invited First Nations Australian perspectives on, and experiences with, working in Australian universities. The symposium was 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. Some topics for discussion included-
- 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 address
Professor Chelsea Watego
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.
| Time | Session | Speaker(s) |
|---|---|---|
| 9:00am | Arrive (for 9:15am start) | |
| 9:00 | Coffee and tea (available to purchase at Mizzuna’s café) | |
| 9:15 | Delephene Fraser | |
| Dr Wendy Somerville, UC | ||
| 9:30 | Keynote | Professor Chelsea Watego, QUT |
| 10:20²¹³¾â€“10:50 | Light morning tea (provided) | |
| 10:50–11:20 | Dr Crystal Arnold, UoW | |
| 11:20–11:50 | Prof Sharlene Leroy-Dyer, UQ | |
| 11:50–12:20 | Meg Maree Kelly, UoW | |
| 12:20±è³¾â€“1:20±è³¾ | Light lunch (provided) | |
| 1:20–1:50 | Delephene Fraser, UC | |
| 1:50–2:50 | Governance of Indigenous Research Centres: Enhancing community participation in research decision making (workshop/yarning circle) Venue: Building 2, Room 2B02 |
Associate Professor Elfie Shiosaki, Associate Professor Mandy Yap, Dr Francis Markham, Dr Yonatan Dinku (ANU) |
| 2:50±è³¾â€“3:20±è³¾ | Afternoon coffee and tea (provided) | |
| 3:20–3:50 | Dr Justin Wilkey (UMelb) | |
| 3:50–4:30 | Sharing Cultural Strength: Yarning Circle | Ashley van den Heuvel (UC) |
| 4:30pm | Finish |
Places to stay near the University of ÃØÃÜÖ±²¥
Getting to the University of ÃØÃÜÖ±²¥
