<h5>Professor Helen Verran
B.Sc (Hons), PhD
Senior Research Fellow</h5>
Helen’s scholarly life began in the natural sciences. A very promising early career came to a halt in the 1970s after several years devoted to child rearing. Re-training as a primary school teacher, Helen was offered a chance to restart her scholarly career in Nigeria in the 1980s where she found herself teaching science in teacher education. Unexpectedly this enabled a radical change in her area of specialisation towards philosophy and sociology of science. The book Helen wrote about her experiences of teaching science in Nigeria, Science and an African Logic (Univ of Chicago Press, 2001) won several prestigious international prizes. From the late 1980s until 2012 she taught history and philosophy of science at University of Melbourne. During that time her research focus involved working with Yolngu Aboriginal Australians in Arnhem Land as they endeavoured to engage with science and scientists.

The turn of the century saw Helen turn the focus of her attention away from science and education and begin to focus more directly on policy and politics in the areas of environmentalism and indigeneity. As the Australian state adopted neoliberal policy frameworks, Helen discerned that a major shift in the workings of modern knowledge practices was occurring, and she felt that in Australia this was most fully developed in environmental and Indigenous policy. Her approach to analysis in these areas can be understood as a form of empirical philosophy.
<h5>Research Interests</h5>
<ul>
<li>Indigenous and environmental policy in Australia</li>
<li>Knowledge practices and governance practices in contemporary government</li>
<li>Ethnography as method in empirical philosophy</li>
</ul>

Ruth Wallace is the Director of The Northern Institute, Charles Darwin University. Her particular interests are related to undertaking engaged research that improves outcomes for stakeholders in regional and remote Australia. Ruth has extensive experience in innovative delivery of compulsory, post school and VET programs in regional and remote areas across Northern Australia. She has extensive expertise in VET practice development, learning communities, literacies and flexible learning.

Michael Christie is Professor of Education and heads up the Contemporary Indigenous Governance and Knowledge Systems research theme at the Northern Institute, Charles Darwin University, Darwin. He worked in Yolŋu communities as a teacher linguist in the 1970s and 1980s, and started the Yolŋu Studies program at Northern Territory University (now CDU) in 1994.  After working within the Faculty of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies and the School of Education, he moved to the Northern Institute in 2010.

I work for the Northern Territory Government, in the Department of Community Services. I am the project manager for the Indigenous Governance and Leadership Development Strategy (IGLDS) project with the Northern Territory Government. It is my job to make sure that this project gets carried out according to the grant agreement that was made between the Northern Territory Government and CDU. I also try and make sure the IGLDS project achieves the goals set by the Australian Government when it gave the funding to the NT Government to be used for governance and leadership development.

I have worked in many different jobs in the Northern Territory. From 2009 to 2012 I worked for the Australian Government in the old Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs – mostly as a Government Business Manager (GBM) in places such as Yarralin and Galiwin’ku. In 2008 I worked in the Australian Government Department of Education and Workplace Relations. I was the Executive Officer of the Ramingining Homelands Resource Centre in 2006 and 2007. I was a CDEP coordinator for Bawinanga in Maningrida in late 2005. I worked in Yuendumu in 2003, 2004 and 2005 doing CDEP, school attendance and some youth work.

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Avi has been working for the Australian Government for the last seven years (with a break in between to study) – four and a half in Darwin and two and a half in Canberra. He currently works in the area of community and organisational governance and prior to that was working on alcohol harm prevention policy and programs. Before working for the Government, Avi studied Anthropology in Sydney and in 2007 studied International Development in Washington DC.

Juli has lived and worked in remote Yolŋu communities in since 1985. Juli’s background is in education, leadership, intercultural communication and facilitation, and business. Her current interests include using participatory, both[ ways, ground[up methods to negotiate alternative approaches to intercultural research, community[based adult education and training. Juli is working in several GroundUp projects in Arnhem land with the Northern Institute.

Trevor has a background in Arts and Education. He has lived and worked in Yolŋu communities since 1987. He has worked in establishing and running a community arts enterprise at Gunyaŋara (Galupa Screenprints), various roles as a teacher and educator, as a project officer for the Yothu Yindi Foundation, and as a researcher and project officer in a number of community based projects with the Northern Institute and Charles Darwin University including the production of websites, video and communication materials.

Matt Campbell’s recent background is in resource management training with Indigenous Rangers and research into Indigenous community engagement. At CDU he undertook strategic research towards developing evidence[based best practice, with a focus on community engagement and social inclusion research, including research into the effectiveness of Territory Housing Reference Groups as an instrument of governance in remote NT communities. He currently heads up the Research Hub and The Tangentyere Council in Alice Springs.

Tanyah Nasir was born and raised in the Darwin. She is a descendant of the Stolen Generation with family connections to the Garrawa, Djugun and Tiwi language groups. Tanyah has 30 years experience as a teacher, program developer, trainer and lecturer with formal qualifications in teaching, Indigenous Studies and Indigenous Leadership. She has her own business which focuses on Indigenous empowerment and social transformation, community engagement, program design, community development and facilitation. Her passion is to continue to work with Indigenous Australians towards social change, so they are the masters of their destiny and are creating the life they want.

Anthea has a background in education and small business. She has worked as a teacher in the UK and as a teacher and Education Consultant with the Victorian Education Department. She has been engaged with Yolŋu for over 12 years, and has lived and worked in Ramingining for 8 years, as a teacher and literacy coordinator in the school, as a researcher and as a project team member and coordinator. As a member of the GroundUp team she has been involved in a number of projects, including Building Skills in Supervision across East Arnhem, and Building Up Skills in Teaching and Learning in Ramingining CEC.

I am a Marraŋu man from Raymaŋgirr homeland born in 1961. I grew followng my parents around Arnhem land. I have been following the straight road that my father travelled on, following his example.

I attended school at Galiwin’ku, then Gapuwiyak and then Dhupuma College before going to Nhulunbuy Area School. I finished year nine and then started working at the Gapuwiyak store. I went on to become a community worker in the time of the Department of Aboriginal Affairs in the 70’s. Later I started working for the Ŋaduŋgay Homelands Resource Centre as an assistant coordinator and later as the coordinator of the Homelands CDEP program. Then in the 90’s Ŋaduŋgay was amalgamated  with Gapuwiyak Council Incorporated. At this time  I was recognised as a leader in Gapuwiyak, in both Yolŋu and Balanda jurisdictions. Later the mega-shire’s and the Intervention came. By this stage all our local powers had been stripped away.  I am now a regional councillor of the East Arnhem Regional Council in the Miyarrka Ward.

In mid 2013 I started working with this Governance and Leadership project. I saw the project as a path of opportunity for Balanda to see that Yolŋu has got a comprehensive system of governance in use. We also saw the opportunity to start a new Yolŋu corporation which could give us control and power over our own affairs. In this project we are looking to find ways to work together, both-ways, for the long term.

I am currently also on the board of the Yolŋu Nations Assembly and I have recently become a Director of our newly registered Goŋ-Ḏäl Aboriginal Corporation.

My name is Matthew Dhulumburrk Gaykamaŋu and I am a Gupapuyŋu Elder. I am 70 years old.

While my first language is Gupapuyŋu, I speak fourteen different languages and dialects; fifteen with English.

I was born in Milingimbi and went to school there. Early in my life I learned from my parents and teachers that I was responsible for what I did in my life and I could achieve what I wanted to achieve.

I have travelled and worked across northern and western Australia. I was a teacher at Milingimbi Primary School (1960-63) and at Nungalinya College in Darwin (1990-96). From 1974 to 1979 I worked in Community Development with AADS (the Aboriginal Advisory and Development Services) in both the NT and WA. I have been a consultant working with botanists and salt water scientists and also with the Land Council on sea closure and sacred sites. I was a board member of the Ramingining Homeland Resource Centre Aboriginal Corporation from 1997 to 2010. I also ran cultural awareness programs in Darwin in the 1960s, for Tourism and Hospitality, new police recruits, Corrections staff and also for missionaries working in the field.

I am now a Ḏalkarra elder for the Gupapuyŋu people. I have retired but I have not stopped working. I am the chairperson for the Yolŋu Nations Assembly, and a member of the Ramingining Local Authority.

I am currently working closely with staff from Charles Darwin University on several leadership and governance development projects including the creation of a new Aboriginal Corporation for Ramingining. I have been presenting Local Community Awareness programs in Ramingining since 2013.
&amp;lt;h6&amp;gt;My vision for Ramingining&amp;lt;/h6&amp;gt;
My dream for Ramingining is for Yolŋu to be strong, healthy, happy, working-class people. I want to see Jobs created for Yolŋu people. Balanda and Yolŋu working together, helping each other to make life in Ramingining beautiful, happy and enjoyable for all Yolŋu and Balanda, talking together, making decisions for the future of Ramingining. More communication with each other, helping our children get to school and learn the techniques and trades, so they can benefit the people of Ramingining. Everybody living together, building up something for our future generations.

Michaela has recently completed her PhD research (Melbourne, 2014). As well as working on the Governance and Leadership project in Wurrumiyanga and Milingimbi, Michaela is experimenting with the collaborative design of indigenous services marketplaces.