media release
Issued 18 March 2010
Contributing to better policies for Indigenous people
The lives of Australia's Indigenous people, the underlying economic, cultural and social issues affecting them and how public policy can help will be the subject of Fulbright research over the next year.
Tammy Broom, a PhD candidate in human geography has won the 2010 Fulbright Indigenous Scholarship supported by the Australian Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations.
Through her Fulbright Scholarship, Tammy will review Indigenous community economic development in the southwest US as part of her PhD research at Macquarie University. She will be based at the University of Arizona for twelve months.
The data will not only provide information for her PhD but will also develop a framework for considering public policy challenges in sustainable community economic development and responses of both community-level organisations and public agencies.
Dr Joe Hlubucek, Executive Director of the Australian-American Fulbright Commission congratulated Ms Broom on her achievement in receiving this prestigious award.
“Ms Broom is tackling a key issue that is facing Australia. The opportunity for her to do comparative research in a country that has similar issues, and bring that knowledge back to Australia, will prove to be invaluable,” Dr Hlubucek said.
As fitting with the Fulbright mission, the Fulbright Indigenous Scholarship was established to support and recognise young Indigenous leader's commitment to achieving excellence, while seeking an international perspective and collaboration through their studies.
Previous winners of the Fulbright Indigenous Scholarship include:
• Mark McMillan, 2009, Doctor of Juridical Science (SJD) course in the Indigenous Peoples Law and Policy Program, University of Arizona
• Christopher Lawrence, 2008, research interventions designed to reduce the incidence of obesity and onset of type 2 diabetes amongst minority groups
• Julie Owen, 2007, research on the impact of lay educators in effective Indigenous health promotion programs at Arizona State University
• Samia Goudie, 2006 , comparative research study, between the USA and Australia, focusing on facilitating recovery from inter-generational trauma from a First Nation Peoples and Indigenous Australian perspective.
• Yin Paridies, 2003, a one year interdisciplinary Master of Indigenous Public Health Program at the University of California, Berkeley.
• Garry Jones, 2002, spent 12 months at the University of New Mexico researching indigenous art and its place in the community.
The list of 2010 Australian Scholars is available here - media profiles and individual photos of each Fulbright Scholar can be downloaded by following the links.