From Marginalised to Empowered: transformative methods for Aboriginal Health and Wellbeing
Chief Investigators:
- Professor Fiona Stanley (The Kids Research Institute Australia)
- Associate Professor Dawn Bessarab (University of Western Australia)
- Professor Juli Coffin (GRAMS)
- Professor Pat Dudgeon (School of Indigenous Studies, UWA)
- Professor Sandra Eades (Baker IDI, Melbourne)
- Associate Professor Cheryl Kickett-Tucker (Pindi Pindi, The National Research Centre for Aboriginal Children, Families and Community)
- Emerita Professor Rhonda Marriott (Murdoch University)
- Mr Glenn Pearson (The Kids Research Institute Australia)
- Associate Professor Roz Walker (The Kids Research Institute Australia)
- Dr Michael Wright (Curtin University, The Kids Research Institute Australia)
In 2010, the National Health and Medical Research Council awarded the $2.5 million Centre for Research Excellence in Aboriginal Health and Wellbeing (CREAHW) grant to a group of 10 Chief Investigators headed by Professor Fiona Stanley AC (Director, The Kids Research Institute Australia).
The CREAHW partners included the University of Western Australia (UWA), Murdoch University, Curtin University of Technology, Baker IDI and Pindi Pindi National Research Centre for Aboriginal Children, Families and Community.
The CREAHW, which concluded in 2015, was a strategic program of intervention research focused on achieving radical and sustainable change for the Aboriginal community and improving the lives of Aboriginal people.
The program was a unique validation of Aboriginal knowledge and demonstration of Aboriginal methodology involving a multi-disciplinary team of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal researchers, who contributed to the body of knowledge, worked transparently with the Aboriginal community and embraced Aboriginal culture and ways of thinking.
The CREAHW brought together the research strengths of each of the Chief Investigators in a cohesive program of community-based intervention research, well known both nationally and internationally, but with local relevance to Western Australia.
It was supported by the outstanding track record of The Kids Research Institute Australia in working with government and informing policy and practice and build on past achievements by developing the next generation of Aboriginal health researchers and leadership among the Chief Investigator team.
The specific objectives of the CREAHW were to:
- Generate new knowledge that leads to improved health outcomes for Aboriginal people
- Ensure effective transfer of research outcomes into health policy and/or practice
- Facilitate collaboration between Chief Investigators, their institutions and relevant stakeholders
- Advance the training of researchers, particularly those with a capacity for independent research and future leadership roles