RECONCILIATION JOURNEY

The University of Queensland’s (UQ) vision for reconciliation is a fair, equal and inclusive society in which Indigenous and non-Indigenous people unite to create a better future.

ISSR recognises the significant contributions that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff, students, organisations, and community have made and continue to make to UQ, Australia and our global society. Our commitment to improving the wellbeing of Indigenous people and communities is central to our future priorities, with Indigenous engagement established as one of five priority pillars in our Strategic Intent. We remain committed to reconciliation, supporting constitutional recognition, truth telling and healing, and a path to treaty – all while recognising that this will require continuous and ongoing learning.

Since 2023, ISSR has made significant progress in raising cultural awareness within the Institute and effected transformative change in our approach to Indigenous engagement and the promotion of reconciliation.

The majority of the actions in our first RAP Implementation Plan 2023–24 were achieved, and we are particularly proud of our new ISSR Stretch RAP Implementation Plan (November 2025–December 2027) that aligns to the UQ Stretch RAP. The Plan includes 64 practical actions to contribute to, and complement, UQ’s reconciliation goals across the four overarching themes of the UQ Stretch RAP, Relationships, Respect, Opportunities, and Governance.

As part of ISSR’s National Reconciliation Week events (May 2025), we were fortunate to host Professor Paul Memmott and Jessica Kane, who led staff and students through the history and development of the ISSR Long Pocket Cultural Map they had previously developed with several colleagues. The Long Pocket Cultural Map is a schematic reconstruction of the traditional Aboriginal cultural geography and landscape at Long Pocket, which is the beautiful landscape that ISSR has the privilege of working within. During the same events, ISSR was also fortunate to host Professor Maggie Walter from the University of Tasmania, who delivered a fantastic session on Indigenous Data Sovereignty and Governance – both of which feature as critical priority areas for our researchers in our RAP Implementation Plan.

ISSR has continued efforts to develop a strong research portfolio in engagement with First Nations communities – completing new projects in 2025. Notably, the Institute completed the evaluation of the Joint Decision-Making processes adopted by the Empowered Communities partnership for the National Indigenous Australians Agency, which involved working with ten Indigenous region communities, and a wide range of community leaders, organisations, and researchers. ISSR researchers also developed a research report mapping transitions to secondary school, drawing on the Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children (LSIC) data, to inform how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people can be supported to achieve their full learning potential (Outcome 5 of the National Agreement on Closing the Gap).

ISSR collaborated in the development of frameworks and tools to support the implementation of an enhanced model for the Stronger People Stronger Places (SPSP) Enhanced Model program, and entered into a partnership in late 2025 with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Housing Queensland (ATSIHQ), to investigate several research questions about the state of housing for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Queensland.

We are excited for 2026, where we will continue to prioritise the actions in our new Stretch RAP Implementation Plan.