Laura "Kat" Burmeister

Kat at Charles Darwin University, Casuarina Campus

Kat at Cathedral Termite mound, Litchfield National Park, Northern Territory

Fulbright Postgraduate Scholar (2006-2007)

Scholar story

“I feel the Fulbright experience has greatly broadened my thinking and has made me truly appreciate that people are people everywhere, despite nuances of dress, speech or cultural practice.”

Laura was a Fulbright Scholar to Darwin, Australia in 2006, conducting research at primary schools in the Northern Territory on grassroots educational initiatives designed to encourage and improve outcomes for Aboriginal children in urban areas. Her research will form the basis of her PhD at the University of Connecticut.

Laura was drawn to Australia to study as, when conducting literature reviews on Indigenous people, she noticed that academic literature frequently drew parallels between Australian Aboriginal and Native American cultures.

“Before arriving in Australia, I expected to experience cultural differences –which I certainly did – but actually being overseas and living here for a period of time consolidated some of the similarities between Australia and America as well, which I was not prepared for.”

In completing her Fulbright Scholarship Laura feels she has established several professional friendships and partnerships in academic, educational and community circles.

“Professionally speaking, my Fulbright experience has completely changed my world. Not only has it enabled me to complete fieldwork and collect data needed to finish my dissertation and doctoral course of study, being sponsored by the Fulbright program carries an enormous prestige. My Fulbright has enabled me to meet Scholars whose names I have only seen in print while researching my work and to have one-on-one conversations with them, paving the way for professional friendships with experts in my field.”

“It has been, and I anticipate will continue to be, an absolutely unbelievable experience.”

Laura’s Fulbright year was as much about leaning about Australian culture and our way of life, as it was her research.

“On a personal level, I feel that being so immersed in a foreign place and in many different social circumstances has helped me improve me ‘people skills’. I am definitely more comfortable with being ‘an outsider’, which has caused me to even further sympathize with other social ‘outsiders’.”