Under the guidance of its Indigenous Advisory Group and a wide network of Indigenous contributors, the CAUL Hub worked to develop a cross-cultural and cross discipline approach to Caring for Country in cities. In developing our research plans, CAUL Hub is asked the question:
Given thousands of years of Caring for Country in places we now call cities, how can city decisions better include Traditional Custodians, Indigenous knowledge and cultures in future city planning?
Indigenous Engagement and Participation Strategy (IEPS)
The CAUL Hub’s approach to communication and knowledge translation is incorporated in its Indigenous Engagement and Participation Strategy (IEPS) and included three phases: awareness, engagement and transformation. An evolving strategy since 2015, work has been undertaken to increase awareness with the CAUL Hub’s researchers and stakeholders towards collaboration and co-design of urban research projects with Indigenous Australians. From mid 2016, the engagement phase determined that all of the CAUL Hub’s research projects must consider the level of Indigenous engagement and participation in all activities undertaken. In the transformation phase, CAUL Hub’s IEPS aimed for greater impact in our cities as project teams learnt more about Indigenous ways of understanding urban environments, and focused on Indigenous led or co-designed research.
The CAUL Hub’s Indigenous Engagement and Participation Strategy can be downloaded here. A summary of our strategy and Three-Category Approach to our research activities can be downloaded here and our Indigenous Research Guidelines Workshop report can he downloaded here.
The CAUL Hub was advised by a group of Indigenous Australian leaders from around Australia. These include members of the CAUL Hub’s Indigenous Advisory Group. We also worked with Traditional Custodians on lands that our research took place on and Indigenous consultants, facilitators, graphic designers, film makers, caterers, ecologists, venues, writers, educators, cultural competency experts, designers, communications experts and others to deliver or develop our initiatives under the IEPS.
In 2015, the CAUL Hub developed Caring for Country: An Urban Application – an initiative developed in partnership with Indigenous Architecture and Design Victoria and the Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute.
Since 2018, the CAUL Hub has been working with Jirra Lulla-Harvey of Kalinya Communications to tell the stories of CAUL’s Indigenous engagement and participation processes, research and activities from an Indigenous perspective. Through this work, we developed the Three-Category Approach Workbook. Read the full report/strategy from Kalinya Communications here.
For more information on the CAUL Hub presentations, events and publications on our IEP activities, see here.
Banner artwork: Dixon Patten
