QUT is strengthening its commitment to research led by Indigenous Australians with a new strategy, action plan and a fellowship program for Indigenous Australian higher degree students.
Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research), ARC Laureate Fellow Professor Christopher Barner-Kowollik, said QUT’s vision was to build and support Indigenous Australian research excellence and innovation, and the new Indigenous Australian Research Strategy was an important component of that.
“This strategy capitalises on the progress we have already made, and outlines concrete, measurable actions we are taking now and into the future to deliver our vision for building and supporting Indigenous Australian research excellence and innovation,” Professor Barner-Kowollik said.
“QUT values and respects Indigenous Australian knowledges and perspectives and their contribution to the university’s intellectual, social and cultural capital, and our new strategy embeds this in our operations across all faculties,” he said.
As well as incorporating Indigenous Australian knowledges, ethics, protocols and methodologies within research across all faculties, the strategy will support Indigenous Australian research students with the resources and facilities they need to excel, and to become well-rounded researchers ready to take on the real world.
Professor Barner-Kowollik said one of the strategy’s flagship initiatives, , will create a pipeline to transition Indigenous Australian Higher Degree Research students into academic and research positions at the university.
Pro Vice-Chancellor (Indigenous Strategy) Angela Leitch said the strategy would grow a body of Indigenous Australian-led and Indigenous Australian-partnered research that was transformative and beneficial for Indigenous Australian communities.
Ms Leitch said the strategy was aimed at ensuring research was led by Indigenous Australians rather than continuing the post-colonial legacy of positioning Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander people as objects of research.
“Such research has a legacy of extraction and was often undertaken without consent, invading Indigenous peoples’ rights, and was not in their benefit,” said Ms Leitch.
“I am proud that QUT is taking positive action to address this legacy with a strategy that will support research to help decolonise understandings of Indigenous Australians’ social and economic contributions,” she said.
