About the Authors
Associate Professor Annabel Ahuriri-Driscoll (PhD, MPH)
Annabel has whakapapa affiliations to Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Kauwhata, Rangitāne and Ngāti Kahungunu through her father. She is an Associate Professor in Māori Health and Wellbeing at Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha | University of Canterbury. Her work as a Māori/public health researcher spans nearly 25 years across a broad range of kaupapa focused on Māori advancement, including traditional Māori healing and Māori community, iwi and hapū development. Annabel’s PhD in Health Sciences investigated the concept of identity as it features in the lives and experiences of Māori adoptees, which has led to her work in adoption law reform and redress for survivors of abuse in care. She currently co-coordinates the Bachelor of Health Sciences programme and teaches at the interface of culture and health.
Ms Mary-Claire Balnaves (MBioethics, BN, GradCertPaed, DipMid, RN/RM, AFHEAi)
Mary-Claire is a Lecturer within QUT’s School of Nursing. She is an Associate Fellow Higher Education (Indigenous). Mary-Claire has a Master in Bioethics which compliments her passion for health equity and restorative justice within health care. Mary-Claire contributes to the teaching and curriculum development of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’s health and wellbeing subjects, with a strong focus on systemic barriers such as power and racism, and Cultural Safety within health care. Mary-Claire has been involved in the ANMAC accreditation process, collaborating to develop the themes of Cultural Safety, Indigenous Perspectives and person-centred care.
Jennie Briese (BSW) (GCHELT)
Jennie is a Blakademic who is passionate about advancing the social, educational, political, legal, human, and other rights of First Nations Peoples. Jennie has so far published; a chapter on Indigenous Standpoint as a teaching pedagogy in higher education (2020), a chapter on policy agendas and effects on First Nations Peoples (2021), is co-author of several articles discussing social work student poverty in relation to mandatory field education (2023 & 2024) , is co-author of a chapter on White Saviourism in health (2023), and another chapter on White Fragility, resistance, and Blak Fatigue (2024). In each of the above publications, Jennie’s passion for Cultural Safety in the private and public arenas is highly visible.
Jennie coordinates the social work undergraduate Critical Disability Studies unit, and Indigenous studies unit and has taught into other Indigenous studies units since arriving at QUT. Prior to this, Jennie worked alongside First Nations Peoples enrolled in the Bachelor of Social Work at the National Indigenous Knowledges Education Research and Innovation Institute (NIKERII) within Deakin University.
Associate Professor Deb Duthie (PhD, BSocSci (HumServ), GradCertAcadPrac)
Deb is a Wakka Wakka Warumungu woman with family ties to Cherbourg (QLD) & Tennant Creek (NT). Working in the social work discipline, Deb has been teaching at QUT for over 20 years in Indigenous studies and social work practice with an in-depth focus on culturally safe practice. She has developed Indigenous studies units for social work and large cohorts of students from the psychology and public health disciplines. Deb also co-developed an Indigenous Knowledges Minor – a first for QUT. Deb supports non-Indigenous academics and researchers across QUT to appropriately conduct culturally safe and ethical teaching and research to the benefit of Indigenous peoples and communities.
Ms Lana Elliott (MIPH, GradCertAcadPrac, BA (InternlStuds), FHEA)
Lana is a senior lecturer in the School of Public Health and Social Work. She is a health systems and policy researcher whose research critically analyses the political economy underpinning local through to global health policy decisions. With a background in human rights, international relations and public health, Lana is particularly passionate about global health, power and issues of health equity. Her passion for eliminating health inequities translates into Lana’s teaching where she has designed and run units focused on health systems, health policy making and health planning for the last six years. She is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and holds a Graduate Certificate in Academic Practice. Lana is the Academic Lead for Indigenous Health for the School of Public Health and Social Work, a position which works to promote Cultural Safety across QUT.
Dr Shelley Hopkins (PhD, BOptom, FHEA, AFHEAi)
Shelley is both a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and an Associate Fellow Indigenous. She has taught clinical optometry since 2009; this includes supervising students undertaking clinical placements at Aboriginal Community-Controlled Health Organisations. Shelley has published on patient experiences attending student-led clinics and has supervised a PhD student exploring educator and student perspectives on embedding Cultural Safety into the optometry curriculum.
Tipene Merritt (LLM, LLB, BA, Dip. Te Reo Māori)
Tipene has whakapapa affiliations to Ngāti Kauwhata, Rangitāne, Ngāpuhi and Ngāi Te Rangi. He is a Kaiārahi Rangahau | Research Navigator Māori in Research & Innovation. His research management work, in Aotearoa (New Zealand) and Australia, spans 14 years across a range of areas including legal, intellectual property, policy, funding proposals and project management. His appointments include board membership on Australia & New Zealand Council for the Care of Animals in Research and Teaching where he provides a Māori perspective on animals. Tipene is also undertaking a PhD focused on the protection of mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge, culture and identity) and preserving the relationships between kaitiaki (custodians) and their mātauranga Māori.
Dr Kate Murray
kate.murray@canterbury.ac.nz
Kate Murray is a Kaitohutohu | Research Impact Advisor in Research & Innovation at Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha | University of Canterbury and Adjunct Associate Professor at Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia. Kate’s research and practice focus on the evaluation of systems of practice to identify and address systemic inequities and exclusion in health, research, and educational practices. Trained in clinical psychology and public health, she has worked extensively in multicultural contexts, using participatory and mixed methods research to examine and improve systems and community factors that affect health, wellbeing, and equity outcomes.
Kate Murray is a Kaitohutohu | Research Impact Advisor in Research & Innovation at Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha | University of Canterbury and Adjunct Associate Professor at Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia. Kate’s research and practice focus on the evaluation of systems of practice to identify and address systemic inequities and exclusion in health, research, and educational practices. Trained in clinical psychology and public health, she has worked extensively in multicultural contexts, using participatory and mixed methods research to examine and improve systems and community factors that affect health, wellbeing, and equity outcomes.
Associate Professor Trish Obst (PhD, MAPS, GradCertAcadPrac, SFHEA, AFHEAi)
Trish is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, and an Associate Fellow Indigenous. Trish is a mentor and peer reviewer in QUT peer review of teaching program ExPrep. As a course coordinator of the School of Psychology and Counselling’s Honours program for the past 10 years she has developed expertise in Curriculum Development and is a regular presenter and workshop facilitator at the Teaching Interest Group of the Australian Psychology Society biannual conference AUSPLAT. She was a member of the Cultural Safety Curriculum Framework working party who developed a framework for embedding Cultural Safety in Faculty of Health courses. Trish has over 70 publications including a book chapter Using the TARL model in psychology: Supporting first and final year students to compose reflections. In Ryan, M (Ed.) Teaching reflective learning in higher education: A systematic approach using pedagogic patterns. Springer, Switzerland, pp. 77-91.
Associate Professor Lee Wharton
Dr Lee Wharton is a registered teacher (Queensland College of Teachers) and Associate Professor at the Queensland University of Technology. After fifteen years as an educator Dr Wharton accepted his first academic post with the University of Southern Queensland where his research endeavours focused on Sociological interpretations of Health and Physical Education and identifying and determining expertise in interceptive sports coaching. In 2010 he accepted a position within the School of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences at QUT. At QUT, his research focuses on physical activity and sedentary behaviours of school age children, and particularly the influence of structured specialist lessons on the physical activity and learning outcomes. Most recently, Dr Wharton has been involved in research that positions sporting clubs as mechanisms for social inclusion and community-based health services, specifically physical activity and nutrition education programs and research that proposes indigenous languages, dance and games as artefacts of identity. As a member of a larger team of researchers, Dr Wharton is currently researching and developing a model for establishing Food Sovereignty in rural communities.
Dr Yasmin Antwertinger (PhD, GradCertAcadPrac, FHEA, AFHEAi)
Yasmin J. Antwertinger is a lecturer and researcher in Pharmacy in the School of Clinical Sciences, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. She has experience working in the pharmaceutical industry and as a science and pharmacy educator at Charles Darwin University, James Cook University and Queensland University of Technology. Her research focuses on the chemistry of medicines, knowledge and learning, and health literacy. Yasmin uses her pharmaceutical industry experience to design and deliver learning experiences in higher education that are linked to the industry and community. Yasmin‘s current research collaboration with pharmacy colleagues at QUT aims to evaluate health literacy and its impact on quality use of medicines. Her time at Charles Darwin and James Cook Universities in particular, ignited her passion for embedding Cultural Safety and Indigenous Perspectives into health curriculum. As the Indigenous Health Academic Lead in the School of Clinical Sciences, Yasmin’s contribution has improved the embedding of Indigenous health into curriculum and awareness of Indigenous research engagement.
Lydia Roberts
Lydia Roberts is a proud Lungaa Gija and South Sea Islander woman born on Gimuy Walubara Yidinji country. Her matriarchal ties are the Dubbins and Assacruz families of Ngurupai and the Andrews, Obah and Roberts families of Aloomba. Her patriarchal ties are the Long and Tait families of Halls Creek. She is an undergraduate nursing student in her final year of a Bachelor of Nursing at the Queensland University of Technology. She has completed a Vocational Research Experience Scheme with the Carumba Institute at QUT which focused on decolonising frameworks within nursing practice by utilising Indigenous Knowledges. She is dedicated to the needs and justice of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and is committed to advocating for anti-colonial structures within the health care system.
