Indigenous Early Career Researchers in Australian Universities

This open access book explores the key barriers and facilitators to advancing meaningful and fulfilling academic careers in the higher education sector for Australian Indigenous doctoral graduates. It focuses on the career trajectories of Indigenous early career researchers who have participated in the Developing Indigenous Australian Early Career Researchers study, funded by the Australian Research Council (ARC). It delves into a deeper understanding of the professional development requirements of Indigenous Early Career Research academics and presents a new set of knowledge which incorporates Indigenous standpoints, thus creating new avenues for Indigenous early career researchers to articulate their living experiences and perspectives for the benefit of their colleagues, in the present and the future. 

This book also provides a model of best practice collaborative approach through its methodology, method, and structural design. The various chapters present first-hand experience with an Indigenist methodological approach, including access to respectful use of culturally appropriate terminology, modelled by the authors and carefully footnoted with explanatory notes. Its writing is also guided by ethical principles concerning Indigenous Intellectual Property Rights. This book serves as a compendium of critique for current and future Indigenous early career researchers, as well as an encouragement for mentors and advocates for equity and parity for Indigenous academics in higher education. Through the voices of Indigenous early career researchers, this book positions universities well to facilitate improved Indigenous outcomes and to continue to pursue educational equity within the higher education sector.

Professor Michelle Trudgett is an Indigenous scholar from the Wiradjuri Nation in New South Wales.  Michelle currently holds the position Deputy Vice-Chancellor Indigenous Leadership at Western Sydney University. She has also held senior positions at the University of Technology Sydney and Macquarie University.  Michelle is currently the Chair of the Universities Australia Deputy/Pro Vice-Chancellor Indigenous Committee. She also serves as a Board Member on the GO Foundation. Michelle has received a number of awards including the highly prestigious National NAIDOC Scholar of the Year Award, the Neville Bonner Award for Teaching Excellence and the University of New England Distinguished Alumni Award. Michelle is a recognised strategic thinker who adopts a highly collegial approach to achieve positive outcomes for the higher education sector. She is particularly passionate about leading strategic initiatives that empower Indigenous people and communities

Professor Susan Page is an Aboriginal Australian academic whose research focuses on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ experience of learning, leadership, and academic work in higher education and student learning in Indigenous Studies. Susan is currently Pro Vice-Chancellor Indigenous Education at Western Sydney University (WSU), Australia. She has held a number of leadership positions including, Director of Indigenous Learning and Teaching (WSU), Associate Dean (Indigenous Leadership and Engagement) and Director of the Centre for the Advancement of Indigenous Knowledges in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), Head of the Department of Indigenous Studies at Macquarie University, and she has led a university-wide Indigenous graduate attribute project (UTS). Susan has collaborated on multiple competitive research grants, received a national award for Excellence in Teaching (Neville Bonner Award) and is well published in the area of Indigenous Higher Education. From 2015-2018, Susan was an elected Director of the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Higher Education Consortium, and she is currently an appointed Indigenous representative for the Universities Australia Deputy Vice Chancellor Academic Committee. Susan recently co-edited a special edition of the journal Higher Education Research and Development, ‘Ō tāt.ou reo, Na domoda, Kuruwilang birad: Indigenous voices in higher education’. In 2020, Susan worked with a multidisciplinary team to develop her first micro-credential, Supervising Indigenous Higher Degree Research (UTS).

Dr Rhonda Povey is a non-Indigenous early career researcher, living and working on Dharug Country, Australia. Rhonda prepared her thesis, titled 'The Proper bad lie: Aboriginal responses to Western education at Moola Bulla 1910-1955' under the guidance of the Centre for Advancement of Indigenous Knowledges (CAIK) at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS). The thesis was well received with a commendation for the Chancellor’s Award in 2020. Rhonda has extensive experience working and researching in the field of Indigenous education. She currently works at Western Sydney University in collaboration with Professors Trudgett and Page, and Dr Locke, on a study funded by the Australian Research Council (ARC), titled 'Developing Indigenous Early Career Researchers'. Rhonda also worked with Professors Trudgett and Page on a second ARC project 'Walan Mayiny: Indigenous Leadership in Higher Education', and has been the leading author of many academic articles in these fields. She has teaching experience in higher education, coordinating and tutoring an undergraduate subject at UTS ('Aboriginal Sydney Now') and  in 2020, was awarded the 'FASS Remote Learning Award for innovation in learner engagement in the context of Covid-19: UTS Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences'. Rhonda also contributed to the content of the micro-credential course 'Supervising Indigenous Higher Degree Research (UTS), and Indigenist research methods in the subject Qualitative Research Methods for HDR Students' at UTS. The focus of Rhonda’s doctoral thesis, current research and employment is working for and standing with Indigenous peoples in advancing equity and parity in Indigenous education

Dr Michelle Lea Locke is a proud Dharug woman, and a Senior Lecturer in the School of Education at the University of Western Sydney, Australia. She was previously employed as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Developing Indigenous Early Career Researchers Australian Research Council (ARC) Project with Professor Michelle Trudgett, Professor Susan Page and Dr Rhonda Povey. Michelle’s thesis, 'Yanna Jannawi: Walk with Me. Centering Indigenous Ways of Knowing in Early Education and Care Services', was conferred in January 2021 through the Centre for Advancement of Indigenous Knowledges (CAIK) at the University of Technology Sydney. This thesis examines Indigenous perspectives on culturally relevant and respectful approaches to the inclusion of Indigenous Ways of Knowing in mainstream early education and care services. In 2018, Michelle received the Australian Association for Research in Education’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Postgraduate Student Researcher award for her conference paper, 'Wirrawi Bubuwul – Aboriginal Women Strong'.