Indigenous Strategy 2020 - 2025

Western Sydney University has always been located on Aboriginal land. We value and nurture our relationships with the Indigenous community as an anchor institution that serves Western Sydney. This commitment and pride underpins our core values and beliefs.

The School is committed to fostering Indigenous Australian success across the School’s research, learning and teaching portfolios, staff and student bodies, as well as nurturing community engagement and international collaboration.

The School of Social Sciences’ Indigenous Strategy for 2020 – 2025 (PDF, 1543.5 KB) (opens in a new window) engages with and supports the University’s Indigenous Strategy 2020- 2025, and is a demonstration of the School’s commitment to Indigenous Education and Research.

The School has already made significant progress towards many of the objectives set out in the strategy, in particular in leadership, in employment and student numbers. It is important that the School sees this progress as a foundation for further achievement.

Many of the objectives set out are ambitious but they are deliberately so, as the School aspires to be a leader in Indigenous Education to the benefit of our colleagues, students and the community.

The Indigenous Strategy follows the University’s plan in focusing on strategic objectives in seven areas of Indigenous engagement: students; employment; research; learning and teaching; community engagement; leadership; and cultural viability and knowledge.

The School is deeply committed to the objectives set out within this strategic document and will ensure that achieving those objectives is the responsibility of all in the School.

2022 Indigenous Strategy - Annual Report

The School of Social Sciences 2022 Indigenous Strategy - Annual Report highlights the School’s progress made towards the Indigenous Strategy for 2020 – 2025 (PDF, 1543.5 KB).

Some of the highlights reflected in this year’s annual report include the School’s continued curriculum development, strong numbers of Indigenous graduating students and excellence in research. Associate Professor Corrinne Sullivan and Professor Karen Soldatić secured an Australian Research Council grant Linkage, the University’s first Indigenous led ARC grant in over a decade. Dr Scott Avery negotiated research funding packages in excess of $1million through Closing the Gap and Australian Disability Strategy. The School also demonstrated leadership through the Arts Therapy and Counselling academic work group – who successfully lobbied the University’s Education Program Support team to include an Acknowledgement of Country in all University learning guides.

2021 Indigenous Strategy - Annual Report

The School of Social Sciences 2021 Indigenous Strategy - Annual Report (PDF, 11232.81 KB) outlines the great progress that the School of Social Sciences has made towards its Indigenous Strategy for 2020 – 2025 (PDF, 1543.5 KB) in the years since it was written and accepted.

2021 was a memorable year of much progress and achievement in the School - including, a continued increase in the number of Indigenous students completing their studies, and curriculum developments have seen the creation and delivery of new units. The School welcomed Kaiya Aboagye and a well-deserved promotion of Corrinne Sullivan to Associate Professor. There was also continued research impacts by Dr Scott Avery at both community and national levels and both Dr Alanna Kamp and Robyn Newitt were recognised for their teaching excellence. The School, and the colleagues within it, continue to lead Indigenous Excellence and Leadership and look toward continued success in the future.

2020 Indigenous Strategy - Annual Report

2020 was a year of progress and achievement for the School - notably, the symposium ‘#IndigenousLivesMatter: Speaking back/ with Social Sciences’ invigorated the School into a response to the Black Lives Matter Campaign in research, teaching and engagement.

The School also worked with colleagues across the University to provide support to Indigenous students through the time of COVID-19.

The report, rightly, foregrounds the work of Indigenous colleagues but it is also important to acknowledge the strong support of the strategy from all colleagues across the school.