Projects

The integration of language and society

Project Overview: Each language bears an imprint of the society that speaks it — speakers' relationships to each other, their beliefs and ways of viewing the world, and other facets of their social environment, alongside speakers' habitat, subsistence, and physical environment. The way society is integrated with the language spoken by the community is reflected in many linguistic features, also summed up under the notion of language ecology. These include gender and classifiers, information source, speech styles, and ways of telling stories. We focus on the ways in which highly complex minority languages of Amazonia, New Guinea, and Northern Australia reflect their traditional societies and how they change with the encroaching modernity, in collaboration with communities in Brazil, PNG, and North Queensland.. 

Project Lead: Professor Alexandra Y Aikhenvald

Project Team: Professor R. M. W. Dixon (Jawun Research Centre); Assoc.Prof Nerida Jarkey (University of Sydney); Prof Dr Anne Storch (University of Cologne); Prof Maarten Mous (Leiden University)

The Dyirbal language of North Queensland: documentation and maintenance

Project Overview: The Dyirbal language with its many varieties (including Jirrbal, Girramay, Ngajan, and Mamu) is spoken across ten First Nations in an area from Tully to Atherton. This language and the traditional speakers it represents are remarkable in its many aspects – including the elaborate classificatory kinship system and many grammatical features documented by the lead investigator since 1963. Among them is a special gender for edible plants which reflects their importance in the traditional subsistence. A fascinating feature of Dyirbal is a special speech style which must be used in the presence of any kin who are an ‘avoidance’ relationship, that is, in-laws. This has the same grammar and phonetics as the everyday style of speech, but an entirely different vocabulary, the topic of Bob Dixon’s new book, titled The anatomy of avoidance: A full study of Jalnguy, the Dyirbal 'mother-in-law language. We are working towards language maintenance of Dyirbal (focus on Jirrbal), in collaboration the Jirrbal Aboriginal corporation and the Ravenshoe State School, with support from FirstLanguages Australia.

Project Lead: Professor R. M. W. Dixon

Project Team: Professor Adrian Miller, Professor Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald, Ruth Miller

Language and well-being a study across tropical societies

Project overview. Each language has its own way of talking about health and about the disturbances caused by sickness. In some languages, an illness is said to 'come upon' or 'jump to' the sick person. In others, the sufferer becomes a 'container' for an ailment. Saying ‘malaria caught me’ may correlate with the hidden agency of a sorcerer behind the disease. In the European medical discourse, 'body' is often presented as a battleground: one fights a disease, and either succumbs to it, or wins a resounding victory —metaphors which may either strengthen a person’s resilience, or have the opposite, debilitating, effect. In fact, the way a given community talks about health is not arbitrary, but will relate in various ways to the people's life-style, beliefs, and attitudes, and undergo change under the impact of social upheavals and new challenges, especially with regard to First Nations in Australia, Amazonia (special focus on Tariana), and New Guinea (especially the Sepik Region), involving community participants within the Association of the Tariana, Avatip Primary School, and Yalaku Elementary School.

Project lead: Prof Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald

Project team: Professor R M W Dixon, Professor Adrian Miller, Associate Professor Michael Walsh

Documentation and maintenance of the languages of the Sepik Province of PNG

Project overview. The Sepik region of Papua New Guinea is the locus of unprecedented linguistic diversity within the New Guinea context. Documenting and creating theoretically informed grammars and comparative studies for the languages of the Sepik is instrumental for enhancing the knowledge base of linguistics, understanding of people’s cultures, beliefs, and behaviours, and ensuring brighter future for the speakers, including work and education opportunities. The project is being undertaken jointly with the Manambu Association (Based on Port Moresby, under the guidance of James Sesu Laki) and the Avatip Primary School, and the Waskuk and Bangus Wards in Ambunti region of East Sepik Province and the Yalaku Elementary School (under the guidance of Joel Ukaia, Counsillor).

Project Lead: Prof Alexandra Aikhenvald

Project Team: Mr James Laki, Mr Joel Ukaia

Communication for Mental Health

This project aims to improve the communication skills of non-indigenous mental health clinicians supporting First Nations patients of Public Mental Health Services. Led by Associate Professor, Greg Pratt of CQUniversity, this Commonwealth funded, five-year research project involves experts from the health service, community, and research sector. Acknowledging and leveraging the rich and diverse culture and perspectives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples through a co-design process. Where these gaps are unaddressed, mental health and related conditions account for approximately 20% of the total disease burden experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. For an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander person, mental health is conceived as an integral part of health and intertwined with family, kin, community, country, culture, spirituality, ancestry, and across the cycle of life-death-life (Gee, Dudgeon, Schultz, Hart & Kelly, 2013). Currently, there are limited evidence-based training resources available to non-indigenous mental health professionals about community-informed ways of working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

This project uses the innovative methodology of conversation analysis in observable social conduct to understand communication and address a significant health gap for First Nations Australians. The project employs yarning circles as a culturally appropriate, collaborative way to share knowledge and co-design a communication training package. Subsequently, the project will deliver and evaluate the efficacy and impact of the culturally sensitive communication training package for non-First Nations mental health professionals, aiming to improve mental health outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients across four sites in Queensland: 

1. Metro North,
2. Metro South,
3. Cairns and Hinterland, and
4. Central Queensland Health Services.

Lead Investigator: Greg Pratt

Lead Organisation: CQUniversity

Contact: Edwin Surijah

Team: Corey Jones, Julie-Anne Rogers, Kushla Houkamau

Reference

Gee, G., Dudgeon, P., Schultz, C., Hart, A., & Kelly, K. (2014). Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander social and emotional wellbeing. In P. Dudgeon, H. Milroy, & R. Walker (Eds.), Working Together: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Mental Health and Wellbeing Principles and Practice (pp. 55-68). Australian Government Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.

Australian Alliance for Indigenous Genomics (ALIGN)

“The Australian Alliance for Indigenous Genomics (ALIGN) comprise people from across Australia and representing expertise from community, health, research, government, and industry. ALIGN seeks to build leadership and involvement in genomic science, research, precision healthcare, data sciences, ethics, and Indigenous knowledge systems.” (ALIGN, 2024)

A five-year, Commonwealth funded project, ALIGN is led by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people; experts working together for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health. Each state has its own group leading the work, and a responsibility for a special interest area. In Queensland, this group includes researchers from Central Queensland University; Queensland University of Technology; Griffith University; Queensland Health; and the Queensland Institute of Medical Research. This group is supported by an Indigenous Governance Committee, comprising Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people from across the state. Queensland’s focus area is pharmacogenomics; how differences in our genes, affect our sensitivity to medicines. Pharmacogenomics offers the opportunity for people to find the right medications sooner, with less side effects and better health outcomes.

Lead Investigator: Alex Brown

Lead Organisation: Australian National University

Contact: Scott Trindall

Team: Greg Pratt, Scott Trindall, Caitlin King

Reference

ALIGN. (2024). Home. ALIGN. 

Pharmacogenomics Diversity Study

Pharmacogenomic testing is designed to detect clinically important genetic variants that influence drug metabolism. These variants change the rate at which certain drugs are activated and broken down. This information can help doctors predict whether a medication is likely to be effective or cause serious side-effects.

An important gap in the evidence supporting the use of pharmacogenomics (PGx) tests in Australia, is the lack of information about the frequencies of genetic variants among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Led by Professor Sarah Medland from the Queensland Institute of Medical Research, the Australian Pharmacogenomics Diversity Project (MDD-PGx) seeks to re-genotype and analyse samples collected in a nation-wide study of depression (The Australian Genetics of Depression Study; AGDS).

The aim of the AGDS study was to recruit adult Australians with lived experience of Major Depression Disorder (MDD) and investigate specific genetic risk factors associated with differences between individuals in terms of both:

1. risk of depression and
2. response to treatment.

Since the study began in 2015, over 20,000 individuals have participated in the AGDS study.

Lead Investigator: Sarah Medland

Lead Organisation: Queensland Institute of Medical Research

Contact: Nicole Pascoe

Team: Sarah Medland, Greg Pratt, Penelope Lind

GeneEQUAL

The GeneEQUAL project is designed to enable the development and delivery of a world-leading, respectful, and inclusive genomic model of healthcare for people with intellectual disabilities. GeneEQUAL is a five-year, national research partnership involving individuals with intellectual disabilities, healthcare workers, First Nations researchers, and teachers. It is funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) and led by Professor Elizabeth Palmer from the University of New South Wales. GeneEQUAL will develop healthcare resources and inform genetic healthcare that is culturally safe and effective for everyone. The program works in partnership to ensure that all people with intellectual disabilities are respected and have access to inclusive genetic healthcare. This is achieved by:

Listening to people about genetic healthcare, understanding what works for them, and identifying areas for improvement. GeneEQUAL talks to:

• People with intellectual disabilities who have and have not received genetic healthcare.
• Family members and supporters of individuals with intellectual disabilities.
• Healthcare providers.

Co-producing information and health literacy resources about genetic healthcare, such as Easy Read booklets and educational videos. An example of what GeneEQUAL has co-produced is the “GeneEQUAL Educational Toolkit for Communicating with People who have Intellectual Disability”. 

Lead Investigator: Elizabeth Palmer

Lead Organisation: University of New South Wales

Contact: Caitlin King

Team: Elizabeth Palmer, Iva Strnadova, Greg Pratt, Jackie Leach Scully, Julie Loblinzk, Stephanie Best, Erin Turbitt, Julie McGaughran

Integrated Genetic Health Care 

With the advancement of genetic research and genomic healthcare, there is a growing need to describe how research supports health outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. 

Developed by and for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people; in partnership with experts from the community, universities, community-controlled health service, and the public hospital and health service sector; Integrated Genetic HealthCare (IGHC) is a 3-year project that aims to improve coordinated care between primary and specialist (Genetic Health) services. Led by Associate Professor Greg Pratt of CQUniversity, this project focuses on development, deployment, and evaluation of solutions across three domains: 

1. Health Promotion,
2. Integrated Healthcare and
3. Workforce Development.

This project will inform development of culturally safe healthcare for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients accessing genetic health services.

Lead Investigator: Greg Pratt

Lead Organisation: CQUniversity

Contact: Mimona Abdalla

Partnering Organisations: Queensland Aboriginal and Islander Health Council (QAIHC), Genetic Health Queensland (GHQ), Aboriginal Health Council of Western Australia (AHCWA), Department of Health WA (Office of Population Health Genomics), North Metropolitan Health Service (Genetic Services of Western Australia), Australian National University, Flinders University, University of New South Wales (Medicine & Health).

Working Together (2024-29)

Australia's Closing the Gap (CtG) targets represent the social, cultural and environmental determinants of First Nations' health. If these determinants are not considered when monitoring health system effectiveness, there is a risk of failing to account for up to 81% of the health gap between First Nations’ and non-Indigenous Australians. Australia is failing to meet the CtG targets; of the 15 targets for which national data are available, 11 are improving but only four are currently on track. The cost of the gap in recurrent health expenditure is estimated at $4.4 billion annually. The CtG targets are themselves influenced by political determinants; represented by four priority reform areas recently agreed upon by Australian governments and the First Nations Coalition of Peaks. These aim to shift power to community for decision making and data sovereignty, build community organisation capacity, while also improving the cultural safety and responsiveness of government organisations to improve the health of Indigenous peoples.

Yet there is a dearth of research at community levels about how coalitions of First Nations organisations can operationalise political determinants (such as the four priority reforms), and with what effect. This research program partners with four community coalitions in remote and regional Queensland to co-design, implement and evaluate a collective impact approach to achieve the reforms underpinning the CtG targets. The research works with and across community coalitions to prospectively develop, coordinate and evaluate systems improvements using a common agenda, shared measurements of process and impact, mutually reinforcing activities, and communication and knowledge plans. In doing so, this interdisciplinary research will demonstrate how health policy and intra- and inter-community practice can be transformed. New knowledge will be translated to inform further community change processes and impacts on the reform areas and CtG targets.

Project Leads: Janya McCalman and Ruth Fagan

Project team: Sandy Campbell, Alexandra van Beek, Bridget Mitchell

Systems integration project (2019-24)

Mental ill-health exacts a particularly high cost in Indigenous communities, with 24% of children having signs of serious emotional or behavioural difficulties, and more than 30% meeting the criteria for a probable serious mental illness by late adolescence; these rates are increasing. The relative contribution of clinical care to health outcomes is only 10-20%; a much larger share is determined by social and cultural factors such as education, family income and discrimination. There is need for community-led systems approaches and no better place to start than with First Nations children’s and youth mental health. This project works with community controlled primary healthcare and youth services in Yarrabah and Cairns to apply continuous quality improvement processes to co-design, implement and evaluate the effectiveness of systems integration for child and youth (5-18 years) mental health. In each community, the program of research has 5 stages:

1. Develop shared understanding of children’s mental health and systems-level integration;
2. Establish characteristics of service systems and systems integration;
3. Co-design and implement improvements in service systems integration;
4. Evaluate the costs and benefits; and
5. Translate findings to inform future investments in systems integration.

Project Leads: Janya McCalman

Project team: Sandy Campbell, Ruth Fagan, Alexandra van Beek

Restoring and Supporting the Mental Health and Wellbeing of First Nationals Children and Youth.

CRE-STRIDE and post-doctoral fellow (2019-24)

The vision for the centre for Research excellence in STRengthening systems for InDigenous healthcare Equity (CRE-STRIDE) is equitable health care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities through quality improvement (QI) and collaborative implementation research to strengthen primary health care (PHC) systems.  The Jawun research centre collaborates closely with the STRIDE network of researchers and service providers. The STRIDE post-doctoral fellow for Social and Emotional Wellbeing is based at Jawun. 

Project Leads: Janya McCalman and Vicki Saunders

TORCH evaluation (2024)

The Torres and Cape Health Care (TORCH) Commissioning Fund is an initiative of the Commonwealth Department of Health and Aged Care and Queensland Health in partnership with the Queensland Aboriginal and Islander Health Council. TORCH will be established as a funding entity on 1 July 2024. This evaluation will help to inform its establishment and identify what factors and processes will enable the development of similar commissioning funds in other Queensland regions. The aim of the project is to evaluate and provide project assurance for the establishment of the TORCH healthcare commissioning entity and to identify recommendations for quality improvements.

Project Leads: Janya McCalman

Project team: Chris Doran, Henry Boer, Ruth Fagan, Alexandra van Beek

Yarrabah data sovereignty event (2023)

Local community service providers in Yarrabah collect and use data to plan, monitor and report to community and funding agencies. There is intent to create a local platform that holds data to support (1) sharing of information and (2) real time holistic profiles of community. In Yarrabah at any given time local service providers, government agencies and university are collecting information predominantly for use within government service delivery. Very little of this information is fed back to community members and organisations in ways that are culturally appropriate. Consultants producing reports, co-design activities, surveys, workshops and yarning circles are a few examples of the types of activities occurring. Multiple agencies are operating in this space and generally the information collected is for a specific purpose. The views of the Yarrabah Leaders Forum are that both data and process learnings from these activities will benefit others and should be available. Further to add is that the data and information collected belongs to the community. The challenge is how can this happen. A two-day workshop was held in December 2023 to respond to Yarrabah Leaders Forum (YLF) aspirations to have better local data and information readily available to use a) to improve service/program delivery and planning and b) to improve of social, emotional, mental, economic, health and other indicators of community wellbeing in Yarrabah.

Project Leads: Ruth Fagan and Janya McCalman

Leading the way – Understanding and Modeling First Nations Leadership in Community with the Yarrabah Leaders Forum

Project Overview: Theories of leadership have largely been formulated within Western concepts and perspectives. First Nations peoples in Australia, New Zealand, and North America, have started the conversation for reframing and redefining conceptions of “leadership” to better reflect Indigenous identities, values, behaviours, knowledges, and cultural perspectives. 

This project aims to investigate and understand Indigenous community leadership practices and processes relevant to culture, Country and community based on the Yarrabah Leaders Forum (YLF) experience. In collaboration with the Yarrabah community, we aim to develop a model of the YLF through documenting its foundations, processes, principles, and future objectives with a view to providing First Nations communities with a framework of Indigenous leadership that can be adaptable and transferable for their own contexts.

Project Leads: Ms Ruth Fagan and Dr Kylie Radel
Project team: Professor Janya McCalman

Incorporating Culture, Country, and Context – Developing First Nations’ Community-led Education and Research Hubs 

Project Overview: The Australian National Agreement on Closing the Gap outlines 19 national targets across social and economic areas that have significant impacts on life outcomes for Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Five of those targets speak directly to the value of culturally appropriate education, embedded across the life-course, as being fundamental to improving health and wellbeing, economic, employment, and social outcomes for First Nations communities. 

Using a multi-site, collaborative approach, this project will investigate and understand Indigenous community education needs and priorities relevant to Culture, Country and Contexts within regional and remote First Nations communities. We aim to develop an educational hub framework, grounded in the values of Indigenous self-determination, that incorporates research, training, and education pathways that are culturally centred, sustainable and adaptable for First Nations communities and contexts.

Project Lead: Dr Kylie Radel 
Project team: Dr Katrina Rutherford; Dr Wendy Hillman
Project Funding Support: BHP’s Community Development Project

Fostering the future of education equality – Understanding the social, cultural, and economic impacts of higher education scholarships for regional and remote Australian communities

Project Overview: Higher education scholarships programs have been a key component of social investment strategies for industries and businesses, philanthropic organisations, governments and universities. Along with similar investment and philanthropic donation strategies of many other small and large organisations, it is evident that this economic backing supports a wide variety of students to graduate from higher education courses who may not otherwise have had such opportunities. What is not well understood however, are the direct and indirect impacts and outcomes of scholarship investments on regional and remote recipients, their families, communities and the wider social, cultural and economic impacts that may ripple out from these financial and other interventions. Further, there is limited research into the ongoing impacts that occur for individuals and families as a direct result of these initiatives.

This research aims to understand the changes and impacts that occur both directly and indirectly across regional and remote community footprints for higher education scholarship recipients over short and long time frames. We are engaged in a longitudinal study to evaluate and understand the impacts of higher education scholarships for individuals, their families, and their communities through investigating the social, economic and cultural impacts of scholarship investment. We seek to measure what changes occur over a longer timeframe to discover what are the ongoing impacts from scholarship provision.

Project Lead: Dr Kylie Radel
Project Team: Ms Madeline Stewart
Project Funding Support: BHP Mitsubishi Alliance (BMA)

Evaluating the effectiveness and impact of First Nations' Community Engagement micro credential course

Project Overview: The primary aim of this project is to evaluate the effectiveness and impact of a First Nations' community engagement micro credential course (PDC 115414). Participants in the course will be drawn from a variety of CQUniversity stakeholders including: industry partners (eg BHP/BMA), staff and students, and other external organisations who are seeking to better understand and engage with First Nations communities in their programs/practices. 

The research seeks to understand participant needs and expectations, address any resistance and feedback, and foster longer-term participant commitment to and support for embedding better First Nations engagement practices within their personal and professional lives. 

The evaluation of measurable impacts from the course through both quantitative (anonymous online surveys) and qualitative (interviews) focuses on: 

1. the foundations for such a course being implemented and why it exists; 
2. how it benefits/impacts industry through engaged partnerships with First Nations' Peoples; 
3. how the credentials extend and enhance knowledge transfer through potential increases in productivity from the empowerment of participants to consider and shape their working environments with First Nations Peoples for inclusion and wellbeing; and 
4. the impacts from attainment of a professional development micro credential focused on First Nations' Community Engagement.

Project Lead: Dr Kylie Radel
Project Team: Dr Wendy Hillman, Ms Madeline Stewart, Ms Deb Friel
Project Funding Support: BHP Mitsubishi Alliance (BMA)