Community Knows Best! Walk with Us

Recording

Speaker

Valda Wallace
Research Officer, Healthy Ageing Research Team
James Cook University Australia

Bio

Valda (Val) identifies as a Gugu Badhun woman (Valley of Lagoons/Ewan Country) and acknowledges her South Sea Islander, German, Chinese and European heritage. Val grew up on the Atherton Tablelands and has ties to the Torres Strait Island communities through family, friends and work colleagues. Val’s lived experience as an Aboriginal person is complemented by professional qualifications and her work. As such she has an in depth understanding of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples as two separate cultural groups each with their own world views and cultural values and beliefs and different histories, experiences and circumstances. Her work background which spans over forty years includes health, policing and academia and she has experience in qualitative research, community engagement, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander protocols and research ethics. Val believes that despite the challenges facing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, our knowledges, strong cultural beliefs, strengths and resilience continue to contribute to innovation and research, community development, provision of appropriate services and improved health and educational outcomes. Working towards improved outcomes drives Val’s passion for working with her people.

Abstract

The Healthy Ageing Research Team (HART) has been immersed in research across the Torres Strait Islands and far north Queensland for over two decades. The team of clinicians, academics and researchers aspire to work with Torres Strait Islander and Aboriginal communities to enhance the health and wellbeing of older Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples through research. The process for working in this space has been driven by the communities, who have identified areas where support is needed to strengthen their resilience and maintain/enhance their wellbeing. HART has responded through gaining grants to work with communities to explore and achieve their desired outcomes. While there is an abundance of literature that suggests how researchers should work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, it is not until there is a need to put those processes into practice that navigating the complexities of Ailan Kustom (Island custom) and Aboriginal Customary Law and Lore comes to the fore. At the end of this webinar participants will be able to identify resources and guides useful when conducting research with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.