Grants & Opportunities

Co-research supporting the development of Aboriginal plant knowledges. Successful commercial development of products manufactured from Australian plant extracts based on shared Aboriginal Knowledges and Western scientific evidence is limited. This research project partnering with an Aboriginal Corporation and a skincare company aims to understand the processes that would be needed for Aboriginal-led product development from a traditionally-used plant. This includes examining how plant materials could be sustainably managed and harvested on Aboriginal homelands, the quantities of plant materials needed for product development and the feasibility of a homelands business. The learnings from this project are expected to inform other First Nations groups seeking to develop their plant knowledges.. Scheme: Linkage Projects. Field: 4506 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Sciences. Lead: Dr Susan Semple

A Made in Australia Model for Indigenous-State Treaty-Making. This project aims to address the key public law issues that must be resolved for the negotiation of treaties between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and Australian governments. This project expects to generate new knowledge about the legal, political, institutional, and other factors behind successful treaty-making in the comparative states of Canada and New Zealand and the legal capacity of Australian governments to engage in treaty-making. Expected outcomes of this project include the development of uniquely innovative and flexible ‘made in Australia’ models of treaty-making that are constitutionally viable. This should provide significant benefits, such as improving the likelihood of successful treaty processes.. Scheme: Discovery Early Career Researcher Award. Field: 4807 - Public Law. Lead: Dr Harry Hobbs

Tax justice: Closing policy gaps to lessen intimate partner financial abuse. This project aims to address the weaponisation of the tax and transfer system in Australia by perpetrators of intimate partner financial abuse. The research team will innovate and drive knowledge advancements at the intersection of tax and financial abuse by applying interdisciplinary approaches including co-design with frontline services, practitioners and policymakers, and international comparative legal analysis with leading scholars in Australia and the United States. The research will generate significant economic and social benefits by enhancing outcomes for victim-survivors and their families; bolstering existing coercive control reforms; modernising Australia’s tax law, and administration; and maintaining trust in the tax system.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 4801 - Commercial Law. Lead: Prof Ann Kayis-Kumar

Intergenerational Healing: A Creative First Nations Approach to Wellbeing. This project aims to address the impacts of intergenerational trauma on First Nations communities. It will investigate how community strengths contribute to long-term healing. This will be achieved using Indigenist mixed methods, including conversational storytelling, a culturally designed survey, and creative practice led research. This project expects to generate new knowledge in culturally appropriate approaches to addressing intergenerational trauma. It will use an interdisciplinary approach to generate outcomes including community-led theory, resources, networks, research tools, and an international dataset. This should provide significant benefits, such as improvements in wellbeing and contribution to international policy directions.. Scheme: Discovery Indigenous. Field: 4501 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Culture, Language and History. Lead: Prof Naomi Sunderland

Malo to Mabo: A community-led archaeological history of the Meriam people. This community-led project aims to archaeologically assess Malo Ra Gelar, a politico-religious system that empowered the Meriam people to challenge terra nullius. It seeks to redefine a nationally significant narrative by focusing, for the first time, on its deep historical roots. Expected outcomes include new insights into the peopling of Torres Strait through groundbreaking ancient DNA analysis, as well as a deeper understanding of agricultural emergence in Australia. Research should offer substantial benefits, deepening Meriam's connection to their heritage while broadening public understanding of First Nations religions and the development of Meriam culture from ancient times to a key moment in our nation's history.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 4501 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Culture, Language and History. Lead: A/Prof Duncan Wright

Building a Black Justice Journalism. This project argues for a new form of scholarly journalism, grounded in conceptions of Black Justice, as a critical intervention needed to address the ongoing media misreporting of Indigenous affairs. Through an innovative methodological approach combining scholarship, journalistic practice and archival research, the research agenda will seek to understand the role of the media in sustaining and entrenching settler colonialism. It will interrogate the field of journalism ethics, arguing that accepted norms of journalistic practice compound harm and restrict the voices of Black Witnesses. In doing so, it will aim to build an ethics of practice in the form of Black Justice Journalism which will be disseminated to the Indigenous media sector.. Scheme: Discovery Early Career Researcher Award. Field: 4501 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Culture, Language and History. Lead: Dr Amy McQuire

Constitutional Design & Democratic Resilience . Democracy is under stress worldwide. Both new and longstanding are seeing waves of democratic erosion. In many cases, this erosion is also taking new and more subtle forms, which are harder to detect than outright coups or suspensions of democracy – that is, they involve a form of “abusive constitutional change” that uses existing legal democratic norms and processes to subvert democracy from within. This Project will investigate the nature and scope of this problem of abusive constitutional change, as well as potential solutions through constitutional design. It will offer new theoretical insights for the field of comparative constitutional studies, and practical insights for policymakers in Australia and globally.. Scheme: ARC Future Fellowships. Field: 1801 - Law. Lead: Prof Rosalind Dixon

Domestic and Family violence and border-related harm. This project aims to explore how Australia's migration system intersects with the experience of domestic and family violence for temporary visa holders. By drawing on the accounts of former temporary visa holders via interviews in Australia, Thailand, Vietnam and India, and examining the migration system and processes evident in formal accounts including coronial findings and sentencing judgements, the project expects to generate new knowledge about connections between migration systems and domestic and family violence. This should provide significant benefits by laying the ground for reform and recommendations to support policy makers and stakeholders more broadly to create better conditions for women’s safety.. Scheme: ARC Future Fellowships. Field: 1602 - Criminology. Lead: Prof Marie Segrave

Regulating and countering structural inequality on digital platforms. This project aims to find legal, ethical, technical, and commercial opportunities to counter inequality online. It uses machine learning and custom data collection tools to create new knowledge about how digital platforms—including search engines, social media, peer economy, and news platforms—can help to tackle misogyny, racism, and other forms of structural discrimination. It uses this knowledge to investigate the extent to which private sector digital platforms can be expected to monitor and regulate the actions of their users, what responsibilities they have to avoid contributing to discrimination, hatred, intolerance and abuse, and how the law should develop to ensure that our digital environment is more equal and fair. . Scheme: ARC Future Fellowships. Field: 1801 - Law. Lead: Prof Nicolas Suzor

Reconceiving Engagement with International Law in a Populist Era. This project seeks to address the fundamental problem of how to reconceive engagement by states with the international legal order, in the face of a sustained populist backlash. It proposes to develop a new analytical framework to evaluate the origins and impact of populist concerns about international law. Expected outcomes include detailed empirical studies of the extent to which countries with populist leaders have disengaged from the international legal order, and evidence-based recommendations to increase committed engagement by states with that order. Anticipated benefits include expanding national research and policy capacity in reinforcing the rules and institutions that support Australia’s security and prosperity.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 1801 - Law. Lead: A/Prof Imogen Saunders

The role of song in Kaytetye and Warlpiri biocultural knowledge. This project aims to integrate Indigenous Ecological Knowledge with Indigenous ceremonial knowledge in two central Australian Aboriginal languages: Kaytetye and Warlpiri. With a multidisciplinary team and by building on existing lexical and musical corpora, the project expects to produce the first biocultural monographs. Identification of biota and human uses of them will be expanded with their song, site of origin and kinship affiliation; thus advancing knowledge of how societies interact with the natural world and the role of music in retaining knowledge. Expected benefits of this project are greater intergenerational transfer of Indigenous biocultural knowledge through working on country and enhanced Indigenous capacity. . Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 1904 - Performing Arts and Creative Writing. Lead: Prof Myfany Turpin

Advancing investor action on energy transition. This project aims to advance action by investors (debt and equity) to increase finance for low-carbon energy sources that reduce fundamental climate risks. The project applies interdisciplinary approaches to generate new knowledge about the business case for investor leadership on energy transition and supportive climate law and financial regulatory frameworks. Collaborative legal and business analysis by leading Australian and US scholars, coupled with interviews and focus groups with investors, will examine contemporary engagement practices and investors' management of climate-related financial risks. Expected outcomes are targeted reform proposals to benefit policymakers and the environment by fostering private financing of clean energy.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 1801 - Law. Lead: Prof Jacqueline Peel

Improving outcomes for young people transitioning from out-of-home care. The central aim of this project is to generate the new knowledge needed to support the development, implementation, and diffusion of evidence-based innovations for young people as they transition from out-of-home care to adulthood. The project is significant because young people living in out-of-home care are more likely to enter juvenile justice, become a teenage parent, be socially excluded, have mental and physical health problems and addictions. Outcomes include a world first longitudinal data evidence base, exemplars of best practice, and guidance to advance the application of transition pathways and plans to inform future innovations in Victoria and across Australia for improving transition from care with, by, and for young people. . Scheme: Linkage Projects. Field: 1117 - Public Health and Health Services. Lead: Prof Helen Skouteris

Transition of Indigenous people into, and graduating from, higher education. This research focuses on the learning experiences of Indigenous students in WA as they move from high school into university, and from university graduation to the workplace – key educational transition points. Most recent research on Indigenous academic persistence and outcomes (i.e, factors that enable or act as barriers to higher education), is quantitative. Hence this project will document, in-depth, qualitative understandings of students' learning journeys. This will provide an opportunity for them to have a voice about their experiences. The outcomes of this project will also provide important directions to the students and to universities to help improve the learning experiences, potentially leading to improved academic outcomes.. Scheme: Discovery Indigenous. Field: 4502 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education. Lead: A/Prof Graeme Gower

Governing Aboriginal self-determination in NSW: 1980-2025. This project aims to examine how Aboriginal affairs governance in NSW has operated in the era of self-determination since 1980 to today. Using an ethnographic approach to study political power through time, it can develop a new understanding of the real practice of self-determination as policy. It expects to investigate whether governance processes have enabled improvements in the lives of Aboriginal people in NSW. Today, as policymakers negotiate co-design and partnership in Aboriginal affairs, this project can create new knowledge on the potential of resetting relationships between government and Aboriginal people. This will provide a significant contribution to crucial debates on advancing Aboriginal self-determination today.. Scheme: Discovery Indigenous. Field: 4501 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Culture, Language and History. Lead: Prof Heidi Norman

Fine Tuning: A Reconciliation of Indigenous and Western Musical Traditions. Focusing on central Australian song lines, the project strengthens our knowledge, understanding and application of the intricate tuning systems that underpin traditional Indigenous musical practices. Employing a unique methodology that combines Indigenous and contemporary Western musical performance practices with cutting-edge digital technologies, the project will show how the highly nuanced and sophisticated tunings at the heart of Indigenous music-making can be preserved when transposed to contemporary Western art music contexts. In so doing, the case is made for a more genuine, equitable dialogue between Indigenous and non-Indigenous music-makers, to the mutual benefit of musicians, audiences, and society at large. . Scheme: Discovery Indigenous. Field: 4501 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Culture, Language and History. Lead: Dr Dylan Crismani

ARC Centre of Excellence for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. ARC Centre of Excellence for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. Eliminating violence against women is one of the major challenges of the 21st century. Awareness of the problem has grown exponentially, but solutions to it have not. This Centre aims to transform our understanding of the problem by examining the structural drivers that cause and compound violence against women, and pioneering new, evidence-based approaches to radically improve policy and practice across Australia and the Indo-Pacific. The Centre mobilises survivor-centric and Indigenous methodologies, interdisciplinary collaborations, and Indo-Pacific partnerships to deliver scalable approaches to eliminate violence against women across the legal, security, economic, health, and political systems of Australia and the region.. Scheme: ARC Centres of Excellence. Field: 4408 - Political Science. Lead: Prof Jacqui True

Global Governance, Eco-Justice, and International Grievance Mechanisms. Despite their global use, there is no evidence that grievance mechanisms provide remedies for people and ecosystems harmed by international development projects. This project aims to investigate whether grievance mechanisms provide eco-justice, where communities seek to be recognised and participate, can lead full lives safe from undue environmental risk, in ecosystems that can regenerate and repair. This is significant given increasing environmental conflict and deaths at project sites around the world. Examining over 430 original claims to the Multilateral Development Banks’ mechanisms over 25 years, and four case studies, the project aims to determine whether the mechanisms deliver eco-justice, and can improve global rules for remedy.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 4408 - Political Science. Lead: Prof Susan Park

Responding to Sexual Harm: An Australian Historical Criminology Approach . Despite sustained interventions from the 1970s onwards, sexual harm is a problem of enormous magnitude within Australia. The project focuses on contemporary histories of reform, aiming to understand how social, political, legal and cultural contexts have shaped experiences and conceptualisations of sexual harm. This project expects to generate vital knowledge on the impacts of recent historical reforms on diverse communities, advance mixed methods and co-design approaches in historical criminology, and enhance Australia’s research capacity by training a new team of topic matter experts. By understanding the impacts of past reform, findings should provide significant benefits in informing future reforms and responses to sexual harm.. Scheme: Discovery Projects. Field: 4303 - Historical Studies. Lead: Prof Lisa Featherstone

Storying and repairing water places in Wiradjuri Country. This project will centre Aboriginal knowledges to story, care for and repair Wiradjuri Country around the Mudgee area, central west NSW. Sharing information is a key goal of this project. Wiradjuri people are keen to see their cultural, economic, social and environmental knowledge about Country recorded and shared for people in the Mudgee area and beyond. By documenting in story form the proposed on-Country Learning, this project can facilitate this process and serve as a pathway for other co-management contexts. At the heart of the project is on-Country Learning which will bring key collaborators, community members and local school students together on, and with, Country. . Scheme: Linkage Projects. Field: 4406 - Human Geography. Lead: A/Prof Jessica McLean

Investigating the archaeological values of Marra cultural heritage sites. This project aims to investigate the archaeological landscape of Limmen National Park, the traditional Country of the Marra people, and to inform the creation of a cultural heritage management plan. It builds on a long-standing relationship with the Marra and the urgency to preserve their cultural knowledge associated with the Park. The project will use a two-way thinking methodology, combining contemporary Aboriginal knowledge with archaeological and anthropological data to understand the meaning of the archaeological record for Aboriginal people today. Key outcomes include data for continent-wide archaeological narratives, a holistic blueprint to help manage the Park’s cultural heritage, and an archive for Traditional Owner research.. Scheme: Linkage Projects. Field: 4501 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Culture, Language and History. Lead: A/Prof Liam Brady

Reading climate: Indigenous literatures, school English and sustainablity. Reading Climate aims to investigate the connections between sustainability and Indigenous knowledge in the context of school English and directly responds to imperatives for climate education and racial justice in Australian schools. It links teachers, students, authors and scholars through book clubs, exploring the potential of literature as an interdisciplinary site for knowledge building and for reimagining social and environmental futures. With partners the Stella Prize, the Australian Association for the Teaching of English, Feral Arts and VoicEd Radio, the project will develop strong collaborations between literary education, industry, and Indigenous writing, producing an open access digital resource for use in schools nationally. . Scheme: Linkage Projects. Field: 3901 - Curriculum and Pedagogy. Lead: Prof Larissa McLean Davies

Making social cohesion ecocentric through Indigenous language and song . This project expects to develop Indigenous language and song in ways that reframe and Indigenise social cohesion, expanding it from a human-centric policy goal to include connections with everything in Country. Designing and implementing an unprecedented and sustained program of Noongar language and song revitalisation in the south of Western Australia across community, schools, and the performing arts, it should advance the potential for Indigenous expressive culture to nourish reciprocal social and ecological relationships that are adaptable to environmental change. Emerging from a hotspot for biodiversity and global warming, it intends to explore how Indigenous creative responses can focus and spur action on pressing global challenges. . Scheme: ARC Future Fellowships. Field: 4501 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Culture, Language and History. Lead: Prof Clint Bracknell

‘Like the Thunder’: Seeing Stories in the Gulf Country. This project investigates the nature of relationships between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people in the Gulf of Carpentaria. It will generate imaginative understandings of how new relations might have been built through the historical marriage of a Waanyi woman and Chinese man in the late gold rush era; consider the challenges of contemporary Aboriginal advocacy; and examine how storytelling allows us to understand the nature of relations. The outcomes will be presented in major works of fiction and non-fiction and a collection of scholarly essays. Cultural benefits include showing how storytelling helps reveal the essential nature of human relations, and how the capacity to remake relations is essential to intercultural reconciliation.. Scheme: Discovery Indigenous. Field: 4501 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Culture, Language and History. Lead: Prof Alexis Wright

Recirculating Indigenous traveling songs. This project aims to develop new understandings of how unrestricted Indigenous traveling songs have spread across vast geographic and linguistic boundaries in Australia, investigating ways these songs can contribute to greater social connectedness today. It intends to energise collaborative networks across Indigenous communities, language centres, and holding institutions around the world. Forging models to reinvigorate the performance of traveling songs across a wide and diverse range of interconnected localities, this project should advance the potential for Indigenous performance culture to contribute to language revitalisation, cultural identity, and the facilitation of cross-cultural diplomacy in national and international contexts.. Scheme: Discovery Indigenous. Field: 4501 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Culture, Language and History. Lead: Prof Clint Bracknell