Djurali Group for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Research and Education

We turn research into tangible and sustainable change in community, in healthcare, and in public policy.

Watch the video below of Aunty Mary Waites sharing her story on how research saved her husband’s life.

By growing and learning, we have turned research into impactful, tangible and sustainable results for communities, where we’ve been able to change healthcare practice and influence public policy.

Our working foundation is grounded in Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander values and cultures – the muddy soil, innately enshrined in how we work with and for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, whose voices are privileged.

The water has many meanings. The many shades of blue represents the meeting and mixing of the fresh waters from the land with the sea water from the ocean. The water represents the meeting and mixing of knowledge systems that must not dominate each other, to create innovations - cultural infusion©.

Many of our collaborators – the base of the roots, are drawn from other research Institutions and universities, the public and private sectors, civil society and philanthropy. Importantly, our primary partners are Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander people from community-controlled services throughout Australia who live in urban, rural, and remote settings.

Our collaborations are our strength, where diverse skills and expertise are brought together as we strive towards closing the health gap between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and non-Indigenous Australians.

Our team values inclusiveness, respect, openness, and transparency – the roots. Belonging to a supportive and cohesive team with common aspirations and expectations is important to us. Feeling safe in an environment that is culturally safe is paramount as is listening to learn and understand where our titles and egos are left at the front door. Everyone in the team is responsible for fostering a positive and fun environment where we have each other’s backs. Most importantly, be kind and courageous when we must tell someone their behaviours do not fit the team values and expectations we foster.

When we work, we use a proven co-design practice known as the Rambaldini model (Rm) – the gathering circle at base of trunk. The Rm is a systematic co-design tool that is used for dealing with complex and entrenched problems, involving measured and structured engagement processes, the sharing of power and resources, and the application of a consensus-building and collective approach.

Our Djurali protocol v1, the trunk, guides us in how we want to undertake our research and is complemented by our guiding principles.

The first three lower branches are Djurali Priorities, which are self-explanatory and include:

1. Developing a local, sustainable workforce within communities
2. Tackling the biggest health killers within communities
3. Creating innovations in service practice and influencing policy and program design.

Guiding principles

• Cultural leadership and safety: Aboriginal people lead the process right from the beginning to the end; Chairing/Leadership is shared between members
• Sustainability: Activity is embedded and not one-off or short term. It is ongoing.
• Reciprocity: Benefits, resources and outcomes are shared with all stakeholders especially when giving back to the community
  
• Alignment with existing initiatives and plans: Our Work is aligned to national plans, policies and strategies and organisations working in this space, especially those of community- designed and led research priorities; working to close the gap between Aboriginal people and broader society, complementing the research work of others
• Holistic and inclusive: We align activity (and services) with existing work or a broader and sustained work program. We practice
  reflective, deep listening and include others that share our values and purpose
• Accountability: To each other, our partners, and the communities in which we work.

Our objectives

We also have a set of objectives – the branches – which are covered above. Our objectives are what we want to do.

The leaves are the results of our collaborative efforts and involve the:

• Expansion of our partners and collaborators
• An increase in our resources to support the work that we do, including:
  - In-kind support
  - Access to physical resources like equipment or buildings
  - Securing of monetary benefits from a range of avenues
• A growth in our:
  - Scholars who will advance to other courses of interest, including undergraduate degrees
  - Affiliates throughout the community-controlled sector and with other universities
  - Higher degree and post-doc researchers who will contribute to the work we do
  - Friends of Djurali networks and using their talents to support our work.