Real-life research projects

Rosie and Grace Mulligan. Permission granted for its use from artists Rosie and Grace Mulligan: A. Poelina, 2019.

In collaboration with change makers from all walks of life, the Kimberley Transitions focus is to conduct transformative research for community resilience. The aim is to build a network of women and men, community members, representatives from local and global organisations, University of Notre Dame Kimberley researchers, visiting scholars and others who have a passion for reimagining and rebuilding our world.

  • Cultural Actions: Sustaining Aboriginal Lives

    Leader: Dr Anne Poelina, Doctor of Philosophy (Health Sciences)
    Location: Fitzroy River Catchment
    Dates: 2019 – 2021
    Team members: Professor Stephen Muecke, Doctor Sandra Wooltorton, Professor Sandy Toussaint

    The project identifies ‘knowledge gathering and sharing’ to strengthen capacity for sustainable life and sustainable development for Indigenous people and their communities along the entire length of the Mardoowarra Fitzroy River Catchment.

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  • Community development for ecological conversion

    Leader: Anne Jennings, Candidate, Doctor of Philosophy (Arts and Sciences)
    Location: Broome
    Dates: 2018 – 2021
    Team members: Associate Professor Sandra Wooltorton, Professor Neil Ormerod, Dr Patricia Sherwood
    Mentors: Fr. Frank Brennan and Dr Dave Palmer

    To design, implement and research Broome-based community development projects that enable individuals and organisations to reorient their lives, actions and procedures towards social, belief systems, environmental and economic sustainability located within Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si’: On Care for Our Common Home, adopting integral ecology to support ecological conversion.

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  • Economic, social and cultural sustainability for West Kimberley’s Indigenous communities

    Leader: Arjati (Ari) Schipf, Doctor of Philosophy (Arts and Sciences)
    Location: Broome
    Dates: 2018 – 2021
    Team members: Professor Sandy Toussaint, Professor Patrick Sullivan and Dr Janelle White

    Working closely and collaboratively with Fitzroy Valley Indigenous groups alongside the local Kimberley Aboriginal Law and Culture Centre (KALaCC), the doctoral research focus is on the future cultural, economic and social sustainability of life in remote settings; examining legacies of government policy, legislation and service delivery.

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  • Articulating and enacting Hope on Climate

    Leader: Louisa Stredwick, Candidate, Doctor of Philosophy (Arts and Sciences)
    Dates: 2019 – 2021
    Team members: Associate Professor Sandra Wooltorton and Professor Stephen Muecke

    This doctoral project has been developed collaboratively with Caritas Australia. This research seeks to identify performative discourse and socio-cultural characteristics critical to articulating and enacting hope on climate.

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  • Transformative Learning: Integral Ecology at School

    Leader: Jacqui Rémond, Candidate, Doctor of Education
    Team members: Associate Professor Sandra Wooltorton and Professor Celia Deane-Drummond.

    This project explores Pope Francis' encyclical Laudato Si' as it applies to learning about spirituality and place in both local and global contexts.

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Acknowledgement of Country

The Nulungu Research Institute is located on Yawuru land, encompassing the coastal town of Broome. Aboriginal saltwater, river and desert language groups across the Kimberley sustain intergenerational cultural, intellectual and social affiliations over time. Kimberley Transitions researchers and associates pay respect to the Yawuru and other Kimberley cultural custodians - to past, present and future generations. Knowledge and expertise, evident throughout the Kimberley – the place Aboriginal women, men, children and others call home – is vital to the sustainability of all people and places. That Kimberley Transitions can be part of this ongoing process underpins the Project's aims and ethos.