Central Australian Research Showcase

Mc - Professor Kim Humphrey

Professor Kim is the Director of the Northern Institute at CDU. She previously held senior positions at RMIT University and has over 30 years of experience in academic research and teaching. Kim is known for her work on both the social and political dimensions of consumption and the ethics of cross-cultural research. Her recent work focuses on ethical and sustainable consumption and enterprise, community-based arts, and trans & gender diversity.  Kim also currently serves as the Vice-President of The Australian Sociological Association.

Welcome Address - Jodie Summers

Jodie is CDU's Associate Vice-Chancellor of Central Australia and Barkly Region. She has a strong senior leadership and management background, with demonstrated experience in strategy, engagement and business development, financial management, governance, risk management, compliance, and people management. Jodie has been a resident of Alice Springs for 26 years and initially spent 8 years working in hospitality and event management. She is passionate about Central Australia and the Barkly region.

Improving communication with speakers of First Nations Languages in Healthcare

Associate Professor Anne Lowell specialises in collaborative qualitative research and community education with remote Aboriginal communities.    Anne's work strongly focuses on achieving genuine engagement with remote communities, utilizing highly collaborative processes responsive to Indigenous needs and priorities. She has extensive involvement in facilitating improvements in cultural competence, intercultural communication and collaborative practice in research and health service delivery, including advocacy for policy development and resources to support sustained improvement. Anne has also worked extensively on producing resources in Indigenous languages and multimedia resources for improving communication practice in Indigenous health care.

What number will you choose?  Making sense of population trends in the Red Centre

Associate Professor Andrew Taylor is part of the Demography and Growth Planning research team at the Northern Institute. Through their research, the Demography and Growth Planning team aim to understand and advise on the causes and consequences of population changes for the Northern Territory and nationally. With expert knowledge of relevant data, Andrew is particularly interested in the relationships between changing populations, economies and communities. His research provides evidence-based advice to policymakers, NGOs and other practitioners to benefit our communities and diverse societies.

Landscape knowledge visualisation, creating 4D tactile spaces for understanding country.

Dr Rohan Fisher has worked with satellite data and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for the last 30 years, initially for CSIRO in Canberra and subsequently for the Northern Territory government in Alice Springs and Darwin. For the last 20 years, he has worked as a Research Fellow at Charles Darwin University, focusing on GIS and Remote Sensing tools for natural resource management, good governance in Eastern Indonesia, and best practice savanna fire management in Northern Australia. 

Rohan’s current research and training development work is focused on developing projection-augmented landscape models & fire simulations in northern Australia, using low-tech tools to create dynamic spatial holograms of the country.

Engagement of Aboriginal people in education for equity in educational outcomes.

Dr Tracy Woodroffe is a 2024 ACSES First Nations Fellow, Senior Lecturer and Researcher in the Faculty of Arts and Society specialising in Teacher Education and the significance of culture and inclusive practice.    She is a Warumungu Luritja woman with extensive experience in Early Childhood, Primary, Secondary and Tertiary classrooms. Tracy is interested in educational pedagogy, identity, perspective, and cultural responsiveness. Her work includes Indigenous methodology in examining the Australian education system through an Indigenous Women’s Standpoint. 

Dr Woodroffe is the recipient of four Academic Awards - the 2016 SAGE Publication Award, the 2019 Vice-Chancellor's Award for an Emerging Researcher, the 2022 Vice-Chancellor's Award for Teaching Excellence - First Nations Teaching Excellence, and the 2023 Vice-Chancellor'sVice-Chancellor'sVice-Chancellor's Awards in Research and Innovation - First Nations Research and Innovation Award.

Creating a circular economy in regional Australian towns 

Dr Deepika Mathur is a Senior Research Fellow at the Northern Institute, based at the Alice Springs campus. Deepika’s research examines how better waste management can make regional, remote, and very remote areas more sustainable.   In particular, she has been researching construction waste, waste from solar panels and disasters in regional and remote Australia. 

She has conducted multi-stakeholder research projects funded by the Commonwealth and Northern Territory governments. Deepika has published her research in peer reviewed journals, the Conversation and industry journals. She has presented her research at academic and industry conferences in Australia and internationally.

Female participation in STEM and overcoming student stereotypes

Dr Felicity McLure is a Senior Lecturer in Education at Charles Darwin University. She taught Science and was Head of Science for 13 years in international and Australian schools. She has published extensively about a multidimensional conceptual change approach to teaching science, the Thinking Frames Approach.

Felicity’s research interests are in Science Education: conceptual change strategies, student-generated multiple representations, writing explanations, creativity, supporting students with special educational needs; integrated STEM education: developing projects that encourage greater female engagement, understanding how STEM areas are integrated into classrooms; learning environments: developing and validating questionnaires to understand the learning environment, structural equation modelling and Rasch analysis of data; systemic change in schools: understanding barriers and supports to change.

Dr Michaela Spencer is a Senior Research Fellow at the Northern Institute at Charles Darwin University. She has a background in environmental science, sociology, geography, and Science and Technology Studies (STS).  Her current research involves collaborating with Indigenous knowledge authorities and different traditions of knowledge and governance from the 'Ground Up'. This collaborative research is aimed at policy development and involves engagement with governments, service providers, university staff, and Indigenous people in remote communities.

Dr John Michael Binda Reid (2023 Alumni) is a Nyunga man from the Gawler Ranges region in South Australia, where many sacred and spiritual waterholes exist.  He is an Aboriginal man who lived, worked, and raised a family in Alice Springs. In 2023, Dr Reid completed his PhD at Northern Institute under the supervision of Associate Professor Andrew Taylor and Dr Sigurd Gurling. 

Thesis: Re-Imagining the Aboriginal Male Migration Story Through the Nyunga Mind
 

Dr Gavin John Morris (2019 Alumni) is the Principal at Yipirinya School and, in 2023, was elected to the  Alice Springs Town Council.   Prior to living in Alice Springs, he was a lecturer at Charles Darwin University in Darwin.  Dr Morris completed his PhD at Northern Institute in 2019 under the Supervision of Professor Ruth Wallace and Greg Williams. 

Thesis: Edge of Sacred - exploring the life stories of the Nauiyu community. An investigation into trauma and the traditional healing practices of a remote Aboriginal community

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