Seed Funding
2022 Recipients
YOYI (Dance)
Dr David Sequeira (Faculty of Fine Arts and Music) will work with the Wilin Centre for Indigenous Arts and Cultural Development and Jilamara Arts and Crafts Association in the Tiwi Islands to produce the art exhibition ‘YOYI’. YOYI will comprise 30 bark paintings by emerging, midcareer, and senior artists, and a collaborative multi-channel video installation.


Indigenous knowledges in the criminal “justice” context
Led by Professor Marcia Langton (Melbourne School of Population and Global Health), the project will examine how Indigenous knowledges have been incorporated into the criminal justice system.
Birrarung’s billabongs: understanding their past to better manage them today
Dr Joe Greet (School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences) will work with the Wurundjeri Woi wurrung Corporation’s Narrap (Country) Unit Rangers and Melbourne Water to develop management plans for priority billabongs along the lower Birrarung (Yarra River).


Social and Emotional Well-Being among Custodians of Australian Indigenous Knowledge
Led by Dr Candice Boyd (School of Geography, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences), the project will explore the social and emotional well-being of Elders and Older People as the holders and transmitters of cultural knowledge.
Revitalising and sharing knowledge through creativity: developing interdisciplinary research practice
Dr Andrea Rawluk will co-lead a project with Darug woman Maddison Miller, Professor Rod Keenan (each School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences) and Dr Gillian Howell (Faculty of Fine Arts and Music), working with Gunaikurnai Land and Water Aboriginal Corporation and Indigenous actor Leroy Parsons.

2021 Recipients

Wagambirra
Daniel Riley (Victorian College of the Arts) is an early career Wiradjuri researcher, as well as a highly experienced choreographer and dancer, who will explore the traditional Wiradjuri dance form in partnership with Wiradjuri Elders and communities in Dubbo. The project will assist in documentation and intergenerational transfer of cultural knowledge.
Yoongoorookoo: First Law, legal comparison, and a Martuwarra/Fitzroy River creation story
Early career researcher Dr Erin O’Donnell (Melbourne Law School) will work in partnership with the Traditional Owners of the Martuwarra Fitzroy River, including Nyikina academic Dr Anne Poelina, to map the “First Law” of the river.


Developing a food safety roadmap for commercialising Cumbungi
Enterprise Professor Bruce Pascoe and Associate Professor Kate Howell (Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences) will work with Black Duck Foods to develop a food safety roadmap for commercialising the native Cumbungi plant.
Aboriginal Astronomical Knowledge of the Kulin Nation
Associate Professor Duane Hamacher (School of Physics) will coordinate a project that aims to document the Aboriginal Astronomical Knowledge of the Kulin Nation.


“If you look after nature, the land will look after you”: Indigenous knowledge of medicine and food in Lembata, Eastern Indonesia
Led by Dr Justin Wejak (Asia Institute), the project aims to explore Indigenous storytelling and knowledge practices related to food and medicinal plants on the island of Lembata in Eastern Indonesia. The project will also look at knowledge production and transmission, and the role of gender in Indigenous knowledge practices.