About
The Interdisciplinary Graduate Research Program in Indigenous Settler Relations is open to graduate researchers in any faculty undertaking graduate research related to the emerging field of Indigenous settler relations in Australia and the world.
The program connects students with researchers across disciplines, fostering an engaged and supportive intellectual community, and creating a strong cohort experience for the duration of their study. The program deepens academic understandings, and enhances interdisciplinary knowledge exchange on research that leads to more just relations between Indigenous and settler peoples. Students are supported to build networks across the University and with relevant external organisations and to develop their research in reference to current real-world challenges.
Activities throughout the year include exclusive masterclasses, a research symposium, writing retreats, and a reading group, as well as access to the suite of public seminars, lectures and film screenings run by the Australian Centre. Opportunities are available to meet regularly throughout each semester to share research progress and to participate in writing sessions, critical reading groups and workshops focused on ethics, research methodology and approaches for communicating research to diverse audiences across and beyond the academy.
The program enriches the graduate research experience by creating a strong cohort and intellectual community that assists students in developing their post-degree pathways.
Eligible students must have commenced a PhD or Masters by Research. Priority will be given to students who have at least one supervisor based at the University of Melbourne. Students from other institutions will need a statement of support from their supervisors for their applications to be considered.
Participant testimonials
This program is an exceptional feat of organization. The handbook was extremely useful, the speakers were exceptional, the communication from program staff was perfect. Thank you so much for providing this incredible resource!
I’ve appreciated the fantastic community, support, and resources provided in this program to date and would heartily recommend it to other graduate students working in this area. Thank you to all those involved in creating and maintaining it.
I’m really enjoying the program! I feel like I can only dip in and out when I have the time, but have attended most masterclasses and workshops. They have been really helpful and expanded my thinking beyond my own research project, and made me think about the connections between my work and contemporary research practices.
The opportunities for learning and support through the program has been excellent. The on-campus opening event for the research program has remained a highlight of my academic year.
100% think this is an amazing opportunity and am beyond grateful. I love the idea of this being a place to build a community of practice – where early career researchers and PhD students can learn and improve research practices.
As a regional person, being able to participate remotely was absolutely fantastic and made it actually possible. And I really enjoyed the benefits of having people from all over participating – so interesting. I am really grateful for the excellent reading lists, and will keep working through them into the future. But most importantly I’ve really valued being connected in with a group of people who share similar values and a supportive ethos. I haven’t found that anywhere within my faculty really. I seriously hope that these connections can continue into the future – a PhD takes a long time! I’m super grateful for the opportunity and all the work that’s gone into creating the program. I’m excited to think of the work, in all its diversity, that will grow from it. A huge Thank You. I hope I can do some good work in response!!
The program provided a supportive environment in which I could ask for insights, help, and network with like-minded individuals. It facilitated great spaces for discussion and to deepen my knowledge on Indigenous-settler relations, and I always found that I was able to learn something new (even if I thought I already knew a lot about a given topic). The speakers were incredible and it was great that the reading list was comprehensive and appeared to cover a lot of different knowledge bases. Under the circumstances of the pandemic, the program did an amazing job at creating a community. I also enjoyed the fact that there is a wide array of activities available, which meant that you could miss a few and be more selective about those that you wanted to attend. I also enjoyed the complimentary nature of the sessions such as the webinars and masterclasses/workshops.