It is with much sadness that we recently learnt of the passing of Dr Naomi Mayers OAM and Aunty Ann Weldon, two women who played pivotal roles in the establishment of the Redfern Aboriginal Medical Service, Australia’s first Aboriginal community controlled health organisation (ACCHO), in 1971.
Today, almost 150 ACCHOs provide comprehensive primary health care to their communities, thanks in part to the hard work, vision, and determination of people such as Dr Mayers and Aunty Ann.
We honour their lifetime advocacy for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander self-determination, health, and justice. Their efforts have had profound and far-reaching impacts for communities across the country.
I recently returned from the 25th United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in New York, where Lowitja Institute participated in several presentations, panels, and events. This year’s theme, ‘Ensuring Indigenous Peoples’ health, including in the context of conflict’, was particularly relevant to Lowitja Institute’s work.
One of our key duties was hosting a panel showcasing how the ACCHO model aligns with the rights outlined in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The ACCHO model is a unique, place-based system delivering culturally grounded care, so we welcomed the opportunity to share insights into its success with our Indigenous colleagues from around the world. Michael Newman, Lowitja Institute Deputy CEO, also delivered a UN Intervention on this topic, which you can read here. We look forward to building on the international First Nations alliances established or strengthened during this fruitful event.
ngun-godjin
(thank you)
Paul Stewart
CEO
Knowledge Translation Summit: hear about the experiences of Major Research Grant recipients
Showcasing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledges – insights, impacts and learnings from Lowitja Institute Major Grant Recipients
We are proud to host the Knowledge Translation (KT) Summit 2026, an online gathering that brings together policymakers, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, communities, and researchers to share knowledge, showcase innovation, and influence systems change.
For generations, our communities have demonstrated that self-determined, strengths-based, and community-led models deliver the most effective and sustainable outcomes. This KT Summit will hold space for some of these stories to be shared, led by Lowitja Institute Major Grant Recipients. The impact of these projects demonstrates how direct funding, and the genuine sharing of resources and power with the community controlled sector, translates into meaningful and lasting change for communities and how self-determination is a driver for good health.
Lowitja Institute invites you to come together to listen deeply to these stories, recognising that policymaking must be grounded in Indigenous ways of knowing, being, and doing, with self-determination as a core principle for achieving holistic health and wellbeing outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
Five organisations have been awarded a 2025 Lowitja Institute Seeding Grant in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Community Grant stream. This stream has been curated for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community controlled organisations who may or may not have led research before but have the resources and relationships to bring together key stakeholders to develop their own research proposal to submit to a major grant program.
We look forward to working closely with the following organisations to progress projects that will make a vital contribution to improving Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health and wellbeing:
Lowitja Institute raises UNPFII Intervention, discusses ACCHO model and climate change
At the 25th United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII), in April 2026, Lowitja Institute Deputy CEO Michael Newman delivered an Intervention entitled 'Operationalising Self-Determination in Health: The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Community Controlled Health Model'.
During the Forum, our delegation to New York hosted a side event, 'Aboriginal Community Controlled Model of Health Care'. Facilitated by Paul Stewart, this panel event featured Lowitja Institute Chair Craig Ritchie (Dhunghuttiand Biripi) alongside First Peoples' Assembly of Victorian members Troy McDonald (Gunaikurnai), Peter Hood (Kurnai), and Brian Stevens (Gunai).
Paul Stewart also participated in a panel on Climate Change and Indigenous Health, which was arranged by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. He was joined by Emma Rawson-Te Patu, Vice-Chair of the UNPFII, in a panel co-sponsored by Lowitja Institute and chaired by Ambassador Justin Mohammed.
Above: Attending the DFAT event (L-to-R)
Paul Stewart; Emma Rawson-Te Patu, Ambassador Justin Mohamed; and Jasmin Onus (Gundjitmara and Bindal), UN Indigenous Peoples and Development Branch.
Below: 'Aboriginal Community Controlled Model of Health Care' event participants (L-to-R) Paul Stewart, Troy McDonald, Peter Hood, Brian Stevens, and Craig Ritchie.
While at UN headquarters in New York, we were also delighted to meet with Dr Albert Barume, Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, who will be visiting Australia in November 2026.
GLOWS Seeding Research Grants are now open
Applications for the 2026 GLOWS Seeding Research Grants are open until 10 June 2026.
In collaboration with Gilead Health Sciences, this grant provides Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community controlled organisations with the opportunity to identify or explore research priorities within their community related to HIV and viral hepatitis infections, diagnosis, and treatment.
Funding is also available to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander early career researchers, to provide an opportunity to explore and strengthen community research priorities and to generate the evidence needed to develop a research proposal.
Lowitja Learning Summit brings Community together on Kaurna and Wiradjuri Country
Our Lowitja Learning Summit series continued during April with two sets of in-person events that brought together a broad range of stakeholders, including many of our members.
On Kaurna Country in Adelaide, we hosted workshops that created space for learning, connection, and shared knowledge alongside esteemed scholars and leaders: Professor James Ward, Professor Sandra Eades, Dr Stephen Harfield, Mr Robbie Palm, and Associate Professor Kim Morey. Supported by OCHRe through OWL Hub, the workshops were titled ‘Best Practice Community Engagement across the Research Cycle – Connection before Collection’ and ‘Developing High Calibre Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Researchers’.
Then on Wiradjuri Country, the two-day Ngumbaay-dyil Yalbilinya (all together, learn) workshop took place in Orange. These workshops focused on strengthening community-led health research and supporting organisations in leading our own research. For the first time, Lowitja Institute brought together Aboriginal Medical Services, Lands Councils, and other ACCOs delivering health and wellbeing services in the Western NSW region, along with mainstream health providers and education and training organisations, to discuss the role of health research and evaluation in underpinning health and wellbeing outcomes for community.
Kaurna Country workshops (L-to-R): Kristen Keating, Dr Stephen Harfield, Professor Sandra Eades, Professor James Ward, Sonia Waters, Dearna Newchurch, Robbie Palm, Michelle Sweet, and Associate Professor Kim Morey.
Participants on Day 1 of the Ngumbaay-dyil Yalbilinya (all together, learn) workshop held on Wiradjuri Country last month.
Nulungu Research Week
Lowitja Institute's Workforce team will be presenting during Nulungu Research Week. On Friday 29 May, the team will discuss research pathways and workforce development in a session entitled 'Reshaping Indigenous research'.
Nulungu Research Institute is a Kimberley-based organisation of collaborating Aboriginal and non-Indigenous researchers, each with extensive practical and theoretical knowledge. Research Week consists of presentations and panel discussions aimed at supporting researchers working in Indigenous community contexts. This year’s discussions will cover themes including research impact, scaffolding research project funding, collaborating with community, and the challenges of being Indigenous in the academy.
Online learning bursaries for OCHRe and Lowitja Institute members
OCHRe is pleased to offer bursaries for Lowitja Institute’s suite of short online courses. Bursaries are available for all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who are individual members of OCHRe and Lowitja Institute, or have applied. Sign up for membership now!
The bursaries are available from now until 31 May 2026 and you will have 12 months complete the course/s of your choice. Eligible individuals can access all six of Lowitja Institute’s online courses.
For more information, or for assistance with accessing your bursary, please contact the Lowitja Institute team on learning@lowitja.org.au
Professor Larissa Behrendt to deliver next month's Lowitja O'Donoghue Oration
Lowitja Institute and the Lowitja O’Donoghue Foundation are proud presenting partners of the 19th annual Lowitja O’Donoghue Oration, hosted by the Don Dunstan Foundation.
Award-winning author, filmmaker, broadcaster, and academic Professor Larissa Behrendt AO will deliver the 2026 Oration. Professor Behrendt, Distinguished Professor and Laureate Fellow at the Jumbunna Institute of the University of Technology Sydney, will reflect on First Nations women’s leadership as a force of social cohesion and national maturity. Drawing inspiration from Dr O’Donoghue’s insistence that justice is 'not about guilt', the address – titled 'Strength with Grace: Bringing the Nation Together' – will explore a model leadership grounded in relational accountability, cultural authority, and collective responsibility.
This year’s Oration will be held on Wednesday 3 June, during National Reconciliation Week, at Adelaide University’s Elder Hall on Kaurna Country. Livestream online tickets also available.
Lowitja O’Donoghue Foundation Nursing Scholarships: first Doctorate recipient
We congratulate Dr Jessica Bennett on becoming the first Doctorate of Aboriginal Health graduate of the Lowitja O’Donoghue Foundation Nursing Scholarship program. Jessica received her Doctorate degree from the University of Newcastle in early 2026 for her thesis entitled ‘The uncharted journey of Aboriginal health in the Neonatal setting'.
Of receiving her degree Jessica said, ‘Completing my doctorate has left me feeling a deep sense of gratitude and pride for achieving something that I never thought was possible, and for the pathway that has been paved by the many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health professionals and leaders that have made opportunities such as this even possible for me to take.’
The Lowitja Journal call for papers: Articulating First Nations Ways of 'Knowing, Being and Doing'
We invite you to consider submitting an article to First Nations Health and Wellbeing – The Lowitja Journal for a special issue: Articulating First Nations Ways of ‘Knowing, Being and Doing’.
Across the world, First Nations peoples have sustained rich knowledge systems, increasingly referred to as ‘Indigenous ways of knowing, being and doing’ in academic articles. This peer-reviewed special issue invites contributions that explore Indigenous ways of knowing, being and doing as foundations for decolonising and re-shaping thought, offering opportunities to understand ourselves and our relationship with our environment and each other to address contemporary, local and global challenges. This issue is accompanied by a dedicated Lowitja Journal webinar series that deepens the conversation and brings the epistemology, ontology and axiology of knowing, being and doing to life through dialogue with leading First Nations scholars and practitioners.
If you wish to submit an article, please send a preliminary indicative title, a brief overview of your planned submission and corresponding author details to editor@lowitja.org.au by 30 June 2026.
Expressions of Interest are now open to contribute to policy and advocacy work at Lowitja Institute. This opportunities involve working directly on policy and project initiatives, contributing to the development and implementation of strategies guided by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander-led health research, community priorities, and knowledge translation.
We welcome Expressions of Interest from Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples with experience in policy development, project work, or other directly relevant areas, and invite you to share your knowledge, perspectives, or ideas that could help shape this work.
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