The Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) is pleased to announce the outcome of the recent Council election.
The new Council members are:
Dr Myfany Turpin – a linguist and ethnomusicologist at the University of Sydney. Dr Turpin holds an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship to investigate the relationship between words and music in Aboriginal songs in central Australia. She has been conducting research with Aboriginal communities since 1994. Her research focuses on Aboriginal song-poetry and Arandic languages.
Mr Steve Kinnane – a Marda Marda man from Miriwoong country in the East Kimberely. Mr Kinnane is an Adjunct Research Fellow at the Nulungu Research Institute, the University of Notre Dame. He has been an active researcher and writer for more than 20 years as well as lecturing and working on community cultural heritage and development projects.
Ms Rachel Perkins – a member of the Arrernte nation whose lands surround Alice Springs and the Kalkadoon people from the MT Isa region. In 2015, the former Minister for Education and Training, the Hon. Christopher Pyne appointed Ms Perkins to the AIATSIS Council. Ms Perkins is now an elected member of Council and has served on a number of federal agencies including Screen Australia, the Australian Film Commission, and the Australian Film Television and Radio School as well as being a founding board member of NITV.
Professor Michael McDaniel – a member of the Wiradjuri Nation with an extensive career in Indigenous higher education and a record of service to the arts, culture and the community spanning almost three decades. He is Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Indigenous Leadership and Engagement) and Director of Jumbunna at UTS, a member AIATSIS’ Research Advisory Committee, longstanding member of the National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Higher Education Consortium, as well as being the Chair of the Board of Bangarra Dance Theatre.
Minister Birmingham has asked for the new Council’s views on the appointment of a Chair, Deputy Chair and filling the vacancy for Ministerial Appointment. Council will consider this at its first meeting in June 2017.
AIATSIS would like to thank those members stepping down from Council – Professor Mick Dodson, Professor John Maynard, Professor Sandy Toussaint and Professor Bob Tonkinson. With a combined service of over half a century - they have made an immeasurable and invaluable contribution to the continuing success of the Institute.
Media release
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