Summer and Winter Research Projects
The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Unit's Summer and Winter Research Programs provide Indigenous students with the opportunity to gain practical research experience, while working alongside some of UQ's leading Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander academics and researchers.
By participating in a research program, students will gain valuable academic and professional experience, develop analytical & critical thinking, and gain the chance to create networks with industry and academic contacts.
Research Scholars will receive a scholarship equivalent to $360 per week for the duration of the Summer or Winter Research project.
Participation is open to undergraduate, honours, or masters by coursework students, who have completed at least two years of study and are currently enrolled at the time of application.
Student Enrichment and Employability Development 1
Project overview: The project involves working on The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education (AJIE) to assist the Editors and Managing Editor in the shift to a new online open access platform. The role would involve working closely with the Managing Editor Dr Katelyn Barney to assist with the design of a new online article template, assist with populating data into the new website for the journal, and assist with setting up a new social media account for the journal to promote articles and journal more broadly.
Discipline: Education, writing, editing and publishing, Indigenous studies, teaching and learning.
Expected outcomes and deliverables: A new template for articles in AJIE, assisting with populating data into new AJIE website, and a new social media account for AJIE.
Project duration and delivery: 10 weeks during the Summer research period (Nov-Feb), with hours of engagement to be negotiated with the supervisor. Flexible working arrangements may also be negotiated i.e. remote working arrangements, zoom meetings etc.
Suitability: Suitable for any eligible UQ student; research and analytical skills and the ability to work autonomously will be highly valued. Preference will be given to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander applicants.
Primary Supervisor: Dr Katelyn Barney, Lecturer, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Unit.
Research Assistance for Literature Review on Aboriginal Women’s Wisdoms for Leadership
Project overview: The project supports work towards the future publication of a book that draws on the wisdoms and knowledges of senior Aboriginal women as leaders and members of the UQ community and other senior Aboriginal women situated external to the university.
Discipline: Arts and Humanities.
Expected outcomes and deliverables: A Literature Review of historical and contemporary publications from and about Indigenous women, and a presentation to supervisor of the Literature Review.
Project duration and delivery: 10 weeks during the Summer research period (Nov-Feb), with hours of engagement to be negotiated with the supervisor. Flexible working arrangements may also be negotiated i.e. remote working arrangements, zoom meetings etc.
Suitability: Suitable for any eligible UQ student; research and analytical skills and the ability to work autonomously will be highly valued. Preference will be given to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander applicants.
Primary Supervisor: Professor Tracey Bunda, Academic Director
Student Enrichment and Employability Development 2
Project overview: The project involves working on developing a Literature Review of research relating to improving online engagement of students studying Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies. This would involve searching for higher education literature on online engagement and Indigenous perspectives on teaching Indigenous studies and writing a Literature Review.
Discipline: Indigenous studies, teaching and learning, online learning.
Expected outcomes and deliverables: A bibliography of relevant literature, and a Literature Review of articles.
Project duration and delivery: 10 weeks during the Summer research period (Nov-Dec), with hours of engagement to be negotiated with the supervisor. Flexible working arrangements may also be negotiated i.e. remote working arrangements, zoom meetings etc.
Suitability: Suitable for any eligible UQ student; research and analytical skills and the ability to work autonomously will be highly valued. Preference will be given to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander applicants.
Primary Supervisor: Dr Katelyn Barney, Lecturer, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Unit.
Aboriginal Deaths in Custody
Project overview: The student will work with Professor Aileen Moreton-Robinson to identify, classify and co-relate literature relating to Indigenous deaths in custody in the USA, Canada, New Zealand and Australia. A Literature Review will be conducted to document similar and dissimilar variables contributing to deaths.
Discipline: Law.
Expected outcomes and deliverables: To conduct a Literature Review of deaths in prison in the USA, Canada and New Zealand as these three countries share foundational legal systems and high rates of Indigenous incarceration.
Project duration and delivery: 10 weeks during the Summer research period (Nov-Dec), with hours of engagement to be negotiated with the supervisor. Flexible working arrangements may also be negotiated i.e. remote working arrangements, zoom meetings etc.
Suitability: Suitable for any eligible UQ student; research and analytical skills and the ability to work autonomously will be highly valued. Preference will be given to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander applicants.
Primary Supervisor: Professor Aileen Moreton-Robinson.
Incorporating Indigenous Culture in International and Professional Sporting Contexts
Project overview: Predominantly focusing on ‘unsettler’ countries such as Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the US, students will work with Professor Brendan Hokowhitu to help source and sort through academic literature, sports media analyses and historical accounts pertaining to the ‘positive’ incorporation of Indigenous culture within international and professional sporting contexts. If time permits, students will also look at examples of institutionalised racism of professional franchises such as the Washington Redskins, Chicago Blackhawks and Edmonton Eskimos.
Discipline: Health, Sport and Physical Education.
Expected outcomes and deliverables: To conduct a literature and media review of the incorporation of Indigenous culture within international and professional sporting contexts.
Project duration and delivery: 10 weeks during the Summer research period (Nov-Dec), with hours of engagement to be negotiated with the supervisor. Flexible working arrangements may also be negotiated i.e. remote working arrangements, zoom meetings etc.
Suitability: Suitable for any eligible UQ student; research and analytical skills and the ability to work autonomously will be highly valued. Preference will be given to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander applicants.
Primary Supervisor: Professor Brendan Hokowhitu, Professor of Indigenous Research
Country, Custodianship and Eviction
Project overview: Students will work with Professor Bronwyn Fredericks and Dr Abraham (Abe) Bradfield to research and compile a Literature Review on some of the themes raised in Megan Cope’s artwork, Dead Wood.
Topics that may be researched include: environmental consequences of colonisation; thematic analysis of “eviction” and its relation to Country and housing; and the notion of Indigenous Australians as the landlords and custodians of Country. Students will also be encouraged to research and reflect on Cope’s title “Dead Wood” as well as her choice of medium, i.e., paperbark, considering its historic use in documents such as the Yirrkala Petition. There will also be some work undertaken in exploring housing concerns as expressed through key source documents.
Discipline: Caring for Country, Custodianship, Colonisation, Housing, Healing Country.
Expected outcomes and deliverables: Conduct research and a Literature Review on the themes raised in Cope’s artwork; devise a plan for a future journal article/s.
Project duration and delivery: 10 weeks during the Summer research period (Nov-Dec), with hours of engagement to be negotiated with the supervisor. Flexible working arrangements may also be negotiated i.e. remote working arrangements, zoom meetings etc.
Suitability: Suitable for any eligible UQ student; research and analytical skills and the ability to work autonomously will be highly valued. Preference will be given to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander applicants.
Primary Supervisor: Professor Bronwyn Fredericks.
Exploring Indigenous protest and resistance through visual aids
Project overview: Students will work with Professor Bronwyn Fredericks and Dr Abraham (Abe) Bradfield to conduct research into the use and messaging of visual aids in Indigenous protests throughout history. Students are encouraged to unpack some of the themes raised in the banners created by Indigenous artist and activist Gordan Hookey which were carried during the 2020 Black Lives Matter rallies, and recently displayed in the proppaNow exhibition Occurrent Affair at UQ Art Museum.
Discipline: Protest; resistance; Indigenous art; visual ethnography
Expected outcomes and deliverables: Conduct Literature Review into Indigenous protest and the use of visual aids; familiarisation of theories and methodologies pertaining to visual ethnography.
Project duration and delivery: 10 weeks during the Summer research period (Nov-Dec), with hours of engagement to be negotiated with the supervisor. Flexible working arrangements may also be negotiated i.e. remote working arrangements, zoom meetings etc.
Suitability: Suitable for any eligible UQ student; research and analytical skills and the ability to work autonomously will be highly valued. Preference will be given to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander applicants.
Primary Supervisor: Professor Bronwyn Fredericks .
Response to COVID-19 in urban Indigenous communities
Project overview: Students will work with Professor Bronwyn Fredericks and Dr Abraham (Abe) Bradfield to source, review, and organise literature on responses to COVID-19 in urban Indigenous communities – with specific reference to the Brisbane metropole region. Students will provide summaries and annotated bibliographies, thematically analyse and categorise literature, and provide a reference list using EndNote to assist in future publications.
Discipline: COVID-19; Indigenous response to health crises; health and wellbeing; urban Indigenous Australia.
Expected outcomes and deliverables: Conduct a Literature Review, develop an annotated bibliography, and familiarise with referencing formatting.
Project duration and delivery: 10 weeks during the Summer research period (Nov-Feb).
Suitability: Suitable for any eligible UQ student; research and analytical skills and the ability to work autonomously will be highly valued. Preference will be given to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander applicants.
Primary Supervisor: Professor Bronwyn Fredericks
Constructions and deconstructions of James Cook through activism and human agency
Project overview: Students will work with Professor Bronwyn Fredericks and Dr Abraham (Abe) Bradfield to help source and sort through literature pertaining to the presence of statues and monuments that commemorate Captain James Cook, with specific focus on Northern Queensland. If time permits students will also look at Central Queensland, and SE Queensland. Students will conduct research into activists’ motivations behind the “cancel culture” movement and document the diverse views in favour and opposition to it.
Discipline: Colonisation; cancel culture; Aboriginality; protest and resistance.
Expected outcomes and deliverables: To conduct a literature review on cancel culture, and thematically organise sources in terms of type of resistance and its outcomes.
Project duration and delivery: 10 weeks during the Summer research period (Nov-Feb).
Suitability: Suitable for any eligible UQ student; research and analytical skills and the ability to work autonomously will be highly valued. Preference will be given to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander applicants.
Primary Supervisor: Professor Bronwyn Fredericks
Historical research based in Brisbane for the period 1986-1989
Project overview: A summary of literature will be prepared, including source materials and weblinks. Work will be compiled alphabetically in an electronic file and ring binders. Students will undertake a library search for materials guided by keywords, and terms. The Student will be guided by Professor Bronwyn Fredericks and Dr Abraham (Abe) Bradfield. If interested, and available, the student will also undertake a field trip to the Fortitude Valley with others.
Discipline: Law, History, Culture.
Expected outcomes and deliverables: Develop a literature list of Brisbane during the Fitzgerald Inquiry for the period 1986 to 1989 in Brisbane.
Project duration and delivery: 10 weeks during the Summer research period (Nov-Feb).
Suitability: Suitable for any eligible UQ student; research and analytical skills and the ability to work autonomously will be highly valued. Preference will be given to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander applicants.
Primary Supervisor: Professor Bronwyn Fredericks
When Joh Bjelke-Petersen was awarded his Honorary Doctorate at UQ and the protest that took place
Project overview: Review the literature that relates to when Joh Bjelke-Petersen was awarded his Honorary Doctorate at UQ 1985 and the protest that took place outside of Mayne Hall, UQ St Lucia. The student will gain an understanding of how this period of history had a major impact on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and the University of Queensland.
Discipline: History, Politics, Cultural Studies.
Expected outcomes and deliverables: Undertake a Literature Review that documents the lead up to the protest, and the time of the protest during 1985.
Project duration and delivery: 10 weeks during the Summer research period (Nov-Feb).
Suitability: Suitable for any eligible UQ student; research and analytical skills and the ability to work autonomously will be highly valued. Preference will be given to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander applicants.
Primary Supervisor: Professor Bronwyn Fredericks
Mural on the Student Refectory Wall, UQ St Lucia
Project overview: Develop a folder of resources, including literature that relates to the development and history of the Mural on the Student Refectory Wall, UQ St Lucia. Student will visit the mural on the student refectory wall, UQ St Lucia. Photographs of the mural to be organised and taken by a quality photographer. The student will develop an understanding of the history and significance of the mural on the wall of the student refectory, UQ St Lucia.
Discipline: Art, History.
Expected outcomes and deliverables: Develop a folder of resources, including literature that relates to the development and history of the Mural on the Student Refectory Wall, UQ St Lucia.
Project duration and delivery: 10 weeks during the Summer research period (Nov-Feb).
Suitability: Suitable for any eligible UQ student; research and analytical skills and the ability to work autonomously will be highly valued. Preference will be given to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander applicants.
Primary Supervisor: Professor Bronwyn Fredericks
ORCID research update for the ATSISU (3 places available)
Project overview: Review the ORCID research entries in the ORCID system for academics of the ATSISU and cross match with their word documents. Check for accuracy and ensure all works are represented, and the electronic records or links for all entries to both the ORCID file and the word document. The word documents will then be shared with ATSISU media coms so that the ATSISU research webpages can be updated. Students will also be shown how to navigate the UQ staff e-research files.
Students will gain an understanding of how important it is for all researchers (regardless of institution) to have such a record and the need for it to be up to date for grant applications, and for research citation, and referral.
Students will be guided by Professor Bronwyn Fredericks and Dr Abraham (Abe) Bradfield. The students will also be shown how to commence and maintain their own ORCID record.
Discipline: Information Technology.
Expected outcomes and deliverables: Review of ORCID research files for the ATSISU.
Project duration and delivery: 10 weeks during the Summer research period (Nov-Feb).
Suitability: Suitable for any eligible UQ student; research and analytical skills and the ability to work autonomously will be highly valued. Preference will be given to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander applicants.
Primary Supervisor: Professor Bronwyn Fredericks
Key Dates
| Date | Action Item |
|---|---|
| 23 August, 2021 | Applications Open |
| 26 September, 2021 | Closing date for applications |
| 22 October, 2021 | Applicants notified of outcome |
| 29 November, 2021 |
Program commences |
| 18 February, 2021 | Program concludes |