Higher Degree Research students
Ros Sawtell
BSocSc (SCU)
Project title: Identifying Barriers for Urban Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elders Engaging with Internet Services: Centering Elder Standpoints for Educational Training Development
Principal Supervisor: Professor Gawaian Bodkin-Andrews
Quote: “.. re-educate ourselves to counteract both the romantic and the negative representations made of us and to generate pride in our identity and culture.” – Darlene Oxenham
Email: Roselyn.L.Sawtell@student.uts.edu.au
Ros Sawtell, although unsure of her traditional mob, has been accepted and supported by many in the Yugambeh Language Group communities. Graduating with a Bachelor of Social Science (2017) from Southern Cross University (Gold Coast Campus), Ros has continued her journey into research at UTS, Sydney. Ros is undertaking a PhD study to answer the research question ‘why do Elders not use online services?’ Ros’ research will look beyond the deficit discourse used as the standard responses of non-adoption, being cost and ability to learn. Ros hopes the research will contribute to the growing body of Indigenous research by and for communities and assist IT training developers to target the design of programs to support increased engagement.
Lisa Oliver
BRM (CDU)
Project title: Exploring the Role Aboriginal Women’s Groups Play in Building Social Capital Amongst Australian Aboriginal Women
Principal supervisor: Professor Susan Page
Co-supervisor: Associate Professor Gawain Bodkin-Andrews
Quote: I think it is the greatest gift of all to have be born Aboriginal and to have been born a woman, because with that comes a whole sense of purpose about your life, and certainly what you have inherited from your mother, your grandmothers and your aunties - Dr Jackie Huggins
Email: Lisa.Oliver@student.uts.edu.au
Lisa Oliver is a proud member of the Gamilaraay nation north-western New South Wales. She has a degree in Natural and Cultural Resource Management with Charles Darwin University, and has worked and travelled across remote Northern Australia with Indigenous communities. She is currently undertaking a PhD, her project title is: Exploring the Role Aboriginal Women’s Groups Play in Building Social Capital Amongst Australian Aboriginal Women.
Shannon Foster
BA Visual Arts (WSU), Post Graduate Diploma of Education (Sydney University)
Project title: The Living Dreaming – A Study of Sydney’s Living D’harawal Knowledges
Principal supervisor: Associate Professor Gawaian Bodkin-Andrews
Quote: "No one will protect what they don’t care about, and no one will care about what they have never experienced." – David Attenborough
Email: Shannon.E.Foster@student.uts.edu.au
Shannon Foster is a Sydney based D'harawal Saltwater Knowledge Keeper and artist who has been teaching her family's stories for over twenty years to a range of audiences in learning institutions such as Sydney Olympic Park, Taronga Zoo, Australia Museum, Sydney University, UTS and Australian Catholic University. Throughout her career Shannon has noticed a large gap in site-specific, Sydney based Aboriginal knowledge, not just in education but also in the wider Australian community. Shannon hopes to address this discrepancy through her PhD research as she documents the stories and knowledges of her family - the D’harawal people of the Sydney region.
Nathan West
MPhil Social Anthropology (The University of Cambridge), BSc(Hons) Construction Management (University of Newcastle)
Project title: Horizons of Choice: An Anatomy of Indigenous Decision-Making in Australian Resource Projects
Principal supervisor: Professor Larissa Behrendt
Quote: "The emotional tail wags the rational dog." - Jonathan Haidt
Email: nathan.w.west@student.uts.edu.au
Nathan is a Biripi man born and raised on Awabakal territory near Newcastle NSW. With a Bachelor of Construction Management (Hons) (2009) from The University of Newcastle, Nathan has gained over 5 years management experience designing and delivering both public and private building and infrastructure projects. In 2015 Nathan graduated from a MPhil in Social Anthropology from The University of Cambridge as a Roberta Sykes Scholar where he completed a research project analysing the role of extractive projects in addressing economic impoverishment and instability, looking specifically at hydrocarbon developments on Indigenous Matsigenka land in the Peruvian Amazon. Nathan’s PhD at UTS seeks to show how principles from behavioural economics can improve development policy, specifically through an understanding and promotion of local forms decision-making. Using the Ranger Uranium Mine in West Arnhem Land as a case study, Nathan hopes to aid in the achievement of self-determined outcomes for Indigenous communities confronted by the extractive industry.
