The Close the Gap Campaign Report 2025 sends a clear message to governments that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples will continue to hold governments to account for the limited progress towards meeting their commitments under the National Agreement.
In the past month I was privileged to attend three particularly important events in my capacity as Lowitja Institute CEO.
Our namesake and co-patron, the late Dr Lowitja O’Donoghue AC CBE DSG, was honoured in a naming ceremony at the Australian National University on Ngunnawal and Ngambri Country. The Lowitja O’Donoghue Cultural Centre now proudly bears her name and, on the exterior of the building, her signature.
Dr O’Donoghue was the first Aboriginal person to be recognised with an honorary Australian National University doctorate, so this building stands as a striking and fitting tribute. May many more fiercely determined First Nations leaders pass through the Lowitja O’Donoghue Cultural Centre’s doors in the generations to come.
Lowitja Institute has compiled four out of the last five Close the Gap Campaign Annual Reports, with the 2025 edition launched last month. The report showcases several insightful examples of what can be achieved when Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities are granted greater control of their future. Almost 20 years since Professor Tom Calma AO’s Social Justice Report gave rise to the Close the Gap Campaign, we are still waiting for governments to commit to many of the National Agreement on Closing the Gap’s priority reforms. Lowitja Institute urges governments to implement all recommendations outlined in the latest Close the Gap Campaign Annual Report. We also call upon all Australians to support our efforts towards self-determination and closing the gap.
Last week I dropped by Lowitja Institute’s Indigenous Research Methodologies workshop held on Kaurna Country in Adelaide. Distinguished Professor Aileen Moreton-Robinson delivered compassionate and astute insights to the Indigenous early career researchers attending from across the country. You can read more about Distinguished Professor Moreton-Robinson's inspiring recent work with Lowitja Institute below.
ngun-godjin
(thank you)
Paul Stewart CEO
Lowitja Institute Conference 2025: early bird registration closing next week
Early bird registration for our 4th International Indigenous Health and Wellbeing Conference 2025 closes on Friday 11 April.
Don't miss out on your chance to join us on Kaurna Country in Adelaide from 16–19 June. We will soon be revealing our conference program, showcasing over 200 presentations from Australia and across the globe. Follow our social media as we announce our social event entertainment and upcoming speakers. Register now to secure a discount early bird rate to share innovative ideas and transformational research with Indigenous leaders, knowledge holders and advocates.
Lowitja Institute urges governments to take meaningful action to close the gap
The Close the Gap Campaign Report 2025 sends a clear message to governments that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, leaders, organisations, and allies will continue to hold governments to account for the limited progress towards meeting their commitments under the National Agreement.
The First Nations-led, strengths-based report was launched on National Close the Gap Day at the Aborigines Advancement League in Naarm.
The 2025 report delivers 44 recommendations, which we urge governments to implement. It also shares stories of communities’ tireless work to delivering outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and covers a year in review, highlighting some of the key issues and developments from the last 12 months.
Indigenous Research Methodologies workshop and members event on Kaurna Country
Last week Lowitja Institute partnered with Indigenous Futures Centre to hold a two-day workshop on Indigenous Research Methodologies facilitated by Distinguished Professor Aileen Moreton-Robinson (pictured left). This workshop was held on Kaurna Country with 35 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander PhD candidates, graduates, and early career researchers.
We received overwhelmingly positive feedback from those in attendance with one participant stating, 'I’m very proud and grateful to be here and to have such powerful leaders around me and upon who shoulders we stand.'
Workshop attendees were also invited to a members' evening on 25 March at Taikunthi Restaurant located at The University of Adelaide. This special gathering provided an opportunity for Lowitja Institute members to yarn and network. The evening included a special presentation by Unbound Collective, honouring Distinguished Professor Moreton-Robinson for her impact in their work and research.
Comprising of Ali Gumillya Baker, Simone Ulalka Tur, Faye Rosas Blanch, and Natalie Harkina, Unbound Collective is a group of activist-led creative arts practitioners and scholars based at Flinders University. Their individual and collective work centres on ethical practice and responsibility, using memory and storytelling to critically engage with colonial sites of power and knowledge production, such as universities, galleries, libraries, archives, and museums.
Cultural centre opened in honour of Dr Lowitja O’Donoghue AC CBE DSG
On 19 March, the Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra, officially opened the Lowitja O’Donoghue Cultural Centre, in recognition of our co-patron, the late Dr Lowitja O’Donoghue AC CBE DSG’s extraordinary life and ongoing impact. In attendance was Her Excellency the Hon Sam Mostyn AC, Governor General of Australia along with representatives from Lowitja Institute and Lowitja O'Donoghue Foundation.
Yankunytjatjara woman Dr O’Donoghue is the first Aboriginal person to be recognised with the naming of an ANU building. In 1995, she was the first Aboriginal person to be awarded an honorary doctorate (Law) at the university.
Photos feature: Her Excellency the Hon Sam Mostyn AC, Governor-General of Australia; His Excellency Mr Simeon Beckett; Distinguished Professor Genevieve Bell, President and Vice-Chancellor ANU; Deb Edwards, niece of Dr Lowitja O’Donoghue and Head of Lowitja O’Donoghue Foundation; and Ruby Edwards, great niece of Dr Lowitja O’Donoghue; and Lowitja Institute Co-Patron Pat Anderson AO.
Join us in mid-April for a Journal webinar on ethical publishing practices
On 16 April (10am – 11am AEDT), First Nations Health and Wellbeing – The Lowitja Journal will present an online webinar on Ethical Publishing Practices – why they are needed to advance Indigenous health. Associate Professor Michelle Kennedy and Associate Professor Raglan Maddox will identify and address historical and contemporary unethical publishing practices and provide practical steps individual researchers and research teams can make to upholding ethical publishing practices.
A/Prof Kennedy (Wiradjuri) is the Assistant Dean Indigenous Strategy and Leadership for the College of Health Medicine and Wellbeing at the University of Newcastle, the Strategic Research Advisor at Lowitja Institute.
A/Prof Maddox (Bagumani (Modewa) Clans, Papua New Guinea) is a public health researcher whose work focuses on the development, implementation and analysis of Indigenous-led, population-based health research using community-driven processes, with a focus on tobacco and vaping.
Congratulations GLOWS Scholarship and Medium Research Grant recipients
We are excited to announce the first set of recipients of 2024 funding under the (Guiding Local Opportunities for Wellbeing) GLOWS 2024-2026 program, which offers research grants and scholarships to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, community organisations, and their partners for work relating to HIV and viral hepatitis.
Scholarships
The following students received a 2024 GLOWS Scholarship:
Ms Jasmine Armstrong Bachelor of Biomedical Science, University of Queensland
Mr Ethan Jones Bachelor of Pre-Medicine, Science and Health, University of Wollongong
Mr Aidan Kampers Master of Public Health, University of Wollongong
Ms Jackie Watson Master Public Health, specialisation in Aboriginal Health and Wellbeing, and Master of Health Leadership and Management, University of New South Wales
Mr Charles Fisher Doctor of Medicine, Western Sydney University
Medium Research Grant
Our first Medium Research Grant recipient is Danila Dilba Health Service (DDHS), an ACCO servicing people in the Yilli Rreung (greater Darwin) region of the Northern Territory.
This project, entitled ‘Improving the hepatitis B cascade of care in the urban Top End of the Northern Territory’, is a partnership between DDHS and Menzies School of Health Research. It is founded on strong First Nations leadership and participation. The overall focus of the project is to decrease viral hepatitis-related mortality in First Nations peoples by implementing national strategies and filling important knowledge gaps that currently impede the implementation of these strategies.
Expressions of interest, International People’s Health University on The Political Economy of Colonialism and Health (5–11 October), and East and Asia Pacific Regional People’s Health Assembly on The Struggle for Health: Political Economy of the 21st Century Colonialism (12–15 October), Batchelor Institute, Kungarakan Country, Northern Territory
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