Innovative First Nations-Led Project on Indigenous Arts and Wellbeing Secures Australian Research Council Grant

Dr. Pauline Sameshima (Professor, Faculty of Education) is part of an innovative, First Nations-led research initiative that aims to enhance health and wellbeing through arts integrated Indigenous research methods.

The five-year project, titled Dandhigu Yimbana: Listening on Country for Social and Emotional Wellbeing, has received a funding grant of $868,000 AUD through the Australian Research Council’s 2025 Discovery Indigenous grant scheme.

The research applies Arts-Informed Indigenist Research (AIIR) methods to explore how Indigenous arts and culturally grounded research practices can address epistemic violence, support healing, and foster culturally safe research environments that promote health equity. The team will work closely with communities engaged in Indigenous health and wellbeing research, aiming to shape how social and emotional wellbeing is understood and studied in Indigenous contexts.

The project is led by Dr. Vicki Saunders, a Gunggari researcher at CQUniversity’s Jawun Research Institute in Australia.Central to the research is the Gunggari concept of Dandhigu Yimbana that emphasizes deep listening with respect, on, for and with Country, a practice vital to both community and environmental wellbeing and to research integrity. 

This research is expected to contribute significantly to Indigenous scholarship and influence global conversations around arts, health, and decolonizing research practices.

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The visual depiction of the research project is represented in the artwork called Idiwirra: nung Ulamai, which translates to Secret Business: Let us dance/do ceremony (Alngith language). The artwork was made by Dr. Fiona Wirrer-George Oochunyung. The artwork represents 5 different projects coming together, held by lore, symbolized by two green (new) quarter moon shapes. The work illustrates flow, interconnectedness and unfolding as offerings. 

Idiwirra: nung Ulamai (2025). Artist Fiona Wirrer-George Oochunyung