Projects
- Keeping culture strong: Two-way practices and social exchange in remote Aboriginal communities in northern Australia
- Identifying mathematical expression for teaching and learning mathematics in diverse Australian Indigenous languages
- Developing a sense of belonging through translingual and transcultural support
Keeping culture strong: Two-way practices and social exchange in remote Aboriginal communities in northern Australia
Dr Steven Bird has spent 25 years investigating computational methods for recording, enriching, and analysing data from endangered languages, drawing on fieldwork in West Africa, South America, and Melanesia.
Over the past six years he has been working with remote Aboriginal communities in northern Australia. He has held academic positions at University of Edinburgh, University of Pennsylvania, and University of Melbourne. I direct the Top End Language Lab at Charles Darwin University and producer at languageparty.org.
He has 200 publications with 20,000 citations, including 12 Q1 publications in the past five years. He has supervised a dozen PhD students to completion and is principal supervisor of a further 12 PhD students, 4 due to complete in 2022. He has administered $10 million of research grants in the UK, US, and Australia and been responsible for project coordination and reporting.
Scholarship details
- Scholarship: $40,000 a year, for three years ($120,000). See the eligibility criteria and how to apply.
- Generous relocation allowances (flights, temporary accommodation on arrival)
- Location: Multiple locations including Darwin/Brisbane/Alice Springs/Sydney
- Start time: Between January 5 and March 31 in 2023
Project details
The project will investigate understandings of ‘social capital’ in Northern Territory contexts where First Nations and non-Indigenous people collaborate in keeping culture strong, but where First Nations people have ways of ‘enacting the social’ that are not visible to Western knowledge systems.
Of particular interest are so-called ‘language centres’, where people collaborate on activities ranging from western-style linguistic tasks and classroom pedagogy to on-country teaching and learning.
There are diverse accountabilities to stakeholders, such as elders and sponsors, and with no expectation that these be harmonised. Stakeholders invest funding, expertise, and know-how, and expect a return. Some returns occur in the moment, such as culturally meaningful work, while others are promised, such as a dictionary or a technology.
This research addresses Commonwealth priorities: “wellbeing and economic participation in Aboriginal communities”, and “sustaining languages and cultures”.
Identifying mathematical expression for teaching and learning mathematics in diverse Australian Indigenous languages
Dr Cris Edmonds-Wathen has developed the main theoretical perspectives and methodological approaches for this project.
She has expertise in both mathematics education and linguistics, experience in project management, the ability to conduct field-based research in Indigenous communities, and existing relationships with various remote schools involved in Indigenous language mathematics teaching.
Dr Edmonds-Wathen coordinates the Growing Our Own program, a partnership with Catholic Education NT that delivers community-based teacher training to Indigenous assistant teachers.
She is active in both national and international research communities, an affiliate of the ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language, the Research Unit for Indigenous Language at the University of Melbourne and the Umeå Mathematics Education Research Centre.
Scholarship details
- Scholarship: $40,000 a year, for three years ($120,000). See the eligibility criteria and how to apply.
- Generous relocation allowances (flights, temporary accommodation on arrival)
- Location: Multiple locations including Darwin/Brisbane/Alice Springs/Sydney
- Start time: Between January 5 and March 31 in 2023
Project details
Most Indigenous language speaking students in the NT learn school mathematics in English. This project focuses on providing opportunities for Indigenous students to learn mathematics in their own languages by developing guidelines on how to develop a new school mathematics register in Australian languages.
This project will direct benefit Indigenous educators and Indigenous language speaking students in the schools through increasing the practice of delivering mathematics education in first language. This both honors the linguistic and cultural heritage of remote Indigenous students and provides cognitive foundations for improved school mathematics learning throughout school.
Outcomes will also include guides on how the findings form this project can be implemented in other communities, proving he opportunity for direct benefit toa wider body off communities and their students.
The proposed PhD project is part of a world class innovative project which aims for positive impact for young Indigenous Territorians through improving their access to mathematics education in their first language.
Developing a sense of belonging through translingual and transcultural support
Scholarship details
- Scholarship: $40,000 a year, for three years ($120,000). See the eligibility criteria and how to apply.
- Generous relocation allowances (flights, temporary accommodation on arrival)
- Location: Multiple locations including Darwin/Brisbane/Alice Springs/Sydney
- Start time: Between January 5 and March 31 in 2023
Project details
This project evaluates how successfully newly arrived humanitarian entrants to the Northern Territory navigate settlement in the NT and Australia and factors that contribute to this success. As part of the settlement process, the newly arrived are provided support through settlement support services, which target building the necessary skills and knowledge for independent and active settlement in the Australian community.
The PhD will address the following question: What is the role of translingual and transcultural practices in supporting a sense of wellbeing and belonging for newly arrived migrants?
An exploration of these important factors in the settlement cycle of newly arrived will offer insights into factors that contribute to a smoother transition into independent and active settlement in the Australian community, while also identifying challenges newly arrived facethat might influence their sense of belonging and willingness to stay in that community [rather than relocating].
It will help to develop settlement programs that enhance the possibility that migrants will settle in the NT rather than seeking permanent settlement in centres where their cultures are more widely represented.
The impact of waste on psychological and physical health: Empirical evidence from the Northern Territory (NT), Australia
Dr Matthew Abunyewah is a research-focused lecturer at the Australasian Centre for Resilience Implementation for Sustainable Communities within the College of Health and Human Sciences.
Before joining Charles Darwin University, Dr Abunyewah worked as a community and industry development practitioner researching workforce and training development, public policy development and disaster resilience across Africa and Australia for over eight years. Notable industry research outputs/reports produced by Dr Abunyewah in collaboration with industry partners and government agencies include; the Northern Territory Central Five Mines Report and Northern Territory Circular Economy Strategy.
Dr Abunyewah’s current project is looking at how external thinking tools, which have become popular for consultancy, has negatively affected partnerships with indigenous groups.
Scholarship details
- Scholarship: $40,000 a year, for three years ($120,000). See the eligibility criteria and how to apply.
- Generous relocation allowances (flights, temporary accommodation on arrival)
- Location: Any Charles Darwin University campus,
- Start time: Between January 5 and March 31 in 2023
Project details
Although significant progress has been made in complying with waste regulations, concerns remain about the psychological and physical health impacts of waste circulation, management, and disposal, particularly in connection with informal practices and obsolete technology.
Waste that has been improperly disposed of or untreated can pose serious risks to human wellbeing, including physical, psychological and social health risks. This includes residents proximal to waste disposal sites and the waste workers themselves.
This project will provide information that can promote safe and environmentally sound management of waste, which can prevent adverse psychological and physical health impacts.
The Waste Management Strategy of the Northern Territory (undergoing review) acknowledges waste as an environmental issue with significant health implications. The Strategy, including other NT policies, provide extensive evidence on littering and illegal waste dumping through large-scale waste facilities operating without appropriate environmental controls and monitoring programs.
