Community connections and international partnerships
We deeply value the knowledge and connections that arise from our relationships with Indigenous, First Nations/Peoples and universities internationally.
To provide our cohort with academic and cultural knowledges from across the world, we engage widely with like-minded groups to support mutual knowledge exchange in an appropriate way. Students have the opportunity to travel across the world as part of their study, alongside support from Murrup Barak. Recently, we have supported students to attend study tours in the United Kingdom and Aotearoa.
United Kingdom / Australia Seasons 2022
As part of the UK/Australia Season 2021-22, a joint initiative by the British Council and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Murrup Barak supported five students to develop a creative project in response to the project theme: Who are we now?
The students, Maggie Blanden, Nicholas Currie, Ethan Savage, Jessica Alderton and Shanysa McConville created a documentary titled, Warriors, amplifying the voices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples through family stories and experiences.
The documentary is guided by footage captured on Country, in conversation with Elders and family and the students themselves. This piece of work aims to facilitate intercultural learning through stories of resilience, empowering the filmmakers and their communities.
Warriors premiered at King's College, London in July 2022. Murrup Barak provided support to the filmmakers to travel to the United Kingdom and participate in a complementary study program, visiting other tertiary institutions including Oxford and Cambridge.
You can watch the documentary, Warriors, online.
L-R: Jessica Alderton, Ashley Perry , Kirsten Hausia, Shanysa McConville, Ethan Savage, Maggie Blanden and Nicholas Currie.
University of British Columbia Indigenous Graduate Summer Institute
In August 2023, Murrup Barak and the Poche Centre for Indigenous Health supported students to travel to Vancouver, Canada to participate in the University of British Columbia's (UBC) Indigenous Graduate Summer Institute bringing together Masters and PhD students to assist Indigenous students with gaining a further understanding of the research field.
Justin Wilkey and Keely Walsh, two Indigenous PhD students, along with Murrup Barak staff member Kirsten Hausia, spent a week learning with other First Nations students on Musqueam territory participating in a cultural and academic knowledge sharing.
"Without doubt, the highlight of my trip was the opportunity to meet and yarn over lunch with one of my academic heroes, Dr Jo-Ann Archibald, a First Nations woman from the Sto: lo Nation in British Columbia... Her wisdom and care for early career Indigenous researchers was evident and something I am very grateful to have experienced" - Justin Wilkey
