Giving wings to a generation of Indigenous leaders

Professor Juli Coffin and Glenn Pearson

In 2005, the Telethon Kids Institute won a National Health & Medical Research Council Indigenous Capacity Building Grant that drew together a team of 10 dedicated investigators – all Aboriginal researchers working to improve the health of people in their communities. Since completing the grant in 2009, many have emerged as national leaders in their fields.

The grant, Not Just Scholars but Leaders: Learning Circles in Indigenous Health Research, was the first of its kind aimed at developing a critical mass of Indigenous researchers who could undertake high quality research into health priorities determined by Indigenous people.

The five-year project – developed and led by Associate Professor Deborah Lehmann – saw Indigenous researchers linked up with centres of excellence in research in Australia and internationally, to pursue research across a spectrum of issues including mental health, self-esteem, gender, substance abuse, bullying, juvenile justice, primary health care, and human rights.

Professor Juli Coffin, who recently returned to Telethon Kids, was one of the 10 original Capacity Building Grant investigators. The only one living in regional Australia at the time, she said the opportunity it had offered her had been nothing short of amazing.

“It was the mentoring and support I got; people always said I had a different way of looking at things and held some innovative ideas, but I never really got to put them into practice,” Professor Coffin said.

“So for me, that was one of the first times I could see a need and answer it in a way I knew the community would respond to, without being told how I had to do it.”

Glenn Pearson, Head of the Institute’s Aboriginal Health Research Focus Area – who was invited into the group to undertake his own doctoral project – said for many of the investigators, the grant and the work it facilitated had been their introduction into the scientific world, providing a safe place to explore their fields.

“It brought us into a space to do our research helped by senior researchers like Deb Lehmann who were the arms around us, put there to both hold us and put the right pressure on us,” Mr Pearson said.

“They supported us when we came together and when we went back into our research worlds, and that has formed the foundation for all our work since.”

Associate Professor Lehmann mentored the original group from its inception, helping the participants achieve their goals and become independent researchers.

She said it had been a mammoth task – managing a big team of investigators spread across institutions around the country, organising meetings and workshops, and overseeing the diverse needs of each member of the group. However, her prediction at the time – that many were poised for great careers – was spot-on.

She was delighted many had done so ‘fantastically well’, applauding them as leaders in Aboriginal health research and for being committed to translating that research into practice.

“Leading that grant was the hardest thing I’ve done,” she said. “I value the knowledge and friendship of all the investigators and am delighted that it progressed; it was just a question of mentoring and helping them.

“I’m pleased we supported them; the outcome has been really good and they really should be the people working here and telling us how to do Aboriginal health research.”

In addition to their research, those who took part in the grant hosted a National Roundtable on Research on Racism towards Indigenous Australians, which led to a united Declaration and a submission to the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission.

The grant produced five completed PhDs, with most who took part now regarded as leaders in their respective fields of research. Many have retained links to Telethon Kids – including Professor Coffin who, although based in the Kimberley region, recently re-joined the Institute after holding distinguished positions including Head of Campus and Executive Director, Notre Dame Broome.

“Living in the Kimberley has its challenges when it comes to professional connectivity, but with the right space to think and create in a culturally responsive way, I hope to see Aboriginal ways of working in the research space as the norm instead of the exception,” Professor Coffin said.