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Indigenous leadership is essential to Australian higher education, bringing governance expertise grounded in relational accountability, community obligation, cultural authority, and long term stewardship. Across teaching, research, governance, and executive leadership, Indigenous leaders play a critical role in advancing equity, cultural safety, and institutional integrity and legitimacy, while also contributing sophisticated intellectual traditions that enhance the quality and relevance of higher education systems.
Western Sydney University’s Indigenous Leadership Research is led by two nationally recognised scholars, Professor Michelle Trudgett and Professor Susan Page, whose work continues to shape the landscape of Indigenous higher education in Australia. Together, they have led and continue to lead collaborative research teams committed to advancing Indigenous excellence, sovereignty in research, and transformative sector wide impact.
Two major Australian Research Council–funded projects are at the centre of this work: Walan Mayiny and Yarruwala. Each project contributes critical evidence demonstrating the transformative impact of Indigenous leadership in higher education, not only for Indigenous students and communities, but also for institutional integrity, governance reform, and sector wide change. Together, they position Indigenous leadership not as a cultural addition, but as essential governance and intellectual infrastructure within universities.
While the Yarruwala project is still in progress, the Walan Mayiny project has made a significant scholarly contribution, producing 14 peer reviewed publications that have been extensively cited nationally and internationally. This body of work has informed policy, institutional practice, and scholarly debates on Indigenous leadership, governance, and structural reform across the higher education sector.
Importantly, these research projects have also been critical sites for growing Indigenous research leadership. As part of these works, Wiradjuri scholar Associate Professor Stacey Coates completed her PhD, and Wiradjuri scholar Dr Matilda Harry is completing a Postdoctoral Research Fellowship, contributing original research, leadership, and intellectual authority to the field. In this way, the projects have supported both knowledge production and the development of the next generation of Indigenous scholars and leaders.
Projects such as Walan Mayiny and Yarruwala are particularly important because they centre the voices and experiences of both Indigenous and non Indigenous leaders across the sector, creating a shared evidence base to understand current realities, aspirations, and pathways for reform. These projects illuminate how leadership and governance are currently enacted, where institutional barriers persist, and what structural change is required to support Indigenous authority. Critical projects such as these inform sector wide reform, ensuring that future transformation is grounded in lived experience, collective insight, and Indigenous led knowledge production.
Together, Walan Mayiny and Yarruwala exemplify a sustained commitment to Indigenous led research that grows Indigenous scholars, strengthens Indigenous governance, and drives meaningful transformation within higher education institutions.
Yarruwala: Complex Ecosystems of Indigenous Higher Education Leadership
Yarruwala, meaning mighty or powerful in Wiradjuri language, is a three-year Australian Research Council funded project led by Professor Michelle Trudgett and Professor Susan Page at Western Sydney University. The project investigates Indigenous leadership in higher education, with a focus on governance, self-determination, and institutional transformation, illuminating how Indigenous leaders navigate and reshape the complex ecosystems of the academy.
Click here to find out more about this research project and to access the publications.
Walan Mayiny: Indigenous leadership in higher education
Walan Mayiny, meaning strong people in Wiradjuri language, provides the Australian Higher Education sector with valuable understanding of the benefits Indigenous leadership brings to the sector, as well as society more broadly. The research incorporated the experiences of Vice-Chancellors, First Nations leaders across four continents, Indigenous academics and recruitment professionals. The study found senior Indigenous leaders are required to possess all the attributes expected of other members of Senior Executive whilst also possessing an additional set of personal and cultural competencies. Importantly, Indigenous leadership brings significant institutional benefits and should be incorporated at the highest level in organisations.
Click here to find out more about this research project and to access the publications.
Acknowledgement
Both projects were funded by the Australian Research Council (Walan Mayiny: IN180100026 & Yarruwala: IN250100096). We thank all participants for their generous contributions and acknowledge Darug Country, where our publications were written. We honour the knowledge systems of First Nations peoples and the scholarship that informs this work. Ethics approval was granted by University of Technology Sydney (ETH 18-2372) for the Walan Mayiny project and Western Sydney University’s Human Research Ethics Committee (H16435) for the Yarruwala project.
Contact
For more information or collaboration opportunities, please contact:
Professor Michelle Trudgett – Chief Investigator
Email: michelle.trudgett@westernsydney.edu.au
