Chapter 7: Indigenizing The Higher Degree Research Space: Ampere tyerrtye-areye apurte-irrentye akngerre. Tyerrty-arey-ae antartaremele mwarre anetyeke (A Place Where People Come Together and Look After Each Other)

Indigenous peoples continue to be under-represented in Higher Degree Research (HDR) education. In Australia, this problem of under-representation is even more evident than in other countries. There is no national concerted government strategy in Australia to address this issue despite the recommendations of the Behrendt Report (2012); the Australian Council of Learned Academies Review (ACOLA, 2016) and the Universities Australia (UA),Indigenous Strategy 2017–2020. The numbers of Indigenous academics employed in Australian universities remain low. Many non-Indigenous research supervisors are not well equipped to engage sensitively in the research education of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Higher Degree Researchers (Asmar & Page, 2017; Trudgett, 2014). The term “Higher Degree Researchers” (HDRs) is used here in acknowledgement of the importance of doctoral candidates positioning themselves as researchers and dis-identifying themselves as “students” (Giampapa, 2011).