UQ Lecturer Dr Keane Wheeler is among five recipients of the Australian Academy of Science Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Scientist Award for 2022.
Dr Wheeler's work looks to redress inequalities in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children’s health and development.
His project involves a co-design process with the Yarrabah Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community to create a ‘Move2Smile with Culture’ program, which will combine fundamental movement skills and socio-emotional learning through embedding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ways of knowing, being and doing.
“Move2Smile programs have been shown to build learning capabilities and improve child development outcomes, to better prepare children for a meaningful life,” Dr Wheeler said.
Dr Wheeler, from the School of Human Movement and Nutrition Sciences, is affiliated with UQ Poche Centre for Indigenous Health.
The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Scientist Award recognises research in the physical and biological sciences, allowing interdisciplinary and sociocultural research that could straddle the social sciences and humanities, by outstanding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander PhD students and early-career and mid-career scientists.