First Nations STEM Showcase

Monday 8 July 2024

On Monday 8 July, in celebration of NAIDOC Week 2024, the Perth USAsia Centre hosted a First Nations STEM Showcase, aligned with this year’s theme: ‘Keep the Fire Burning! Blak, Loud and Proud’. The showcase included a panel discussion with leading Western Australian Indigenous scientists Professor Stephen van Leeuwen, Teagan Shields, Leslie Schultz, and Humera Rind.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have sustainably managed Australia’s land and waters for more than 65,000 years. These management practices deliver climate solutions through mitigation and adaptation co-benefits, and achieve biodiversity outcomes.

The Centre’s expert panel discussion explored the latest developments and research innovations coming out of Western Australia in fields such as biodiversity, conservation, environmental science and Aboriginal fire knowledge and management. By sharing their stories and their work, the panellists highlighted the global contribution First Nations scientists are making to the delivery of Australian foreign policy in the region.

First Nations communities and scientists have a significant role to play in not only furthering Australia’s clean energy transition, but ensuring it happens equitably and inclusively. Connecting the lived experience and shared knowledge of First Nations people with contemporary environmental conservation and management is thus essential to ensuring the ongoing health of this land and its people.

Having shared their own journey into STEM, a core message of the panel was the need to empower and open up pathways in this space for young First Nations people and preserve, share, and foster First Nations knowledge for the generations to come.

Speakers

Professor Stephen van Leeuwen

INDIGENOUS PROFESSOR IN BIODIVERSITY & ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE, CURTIN UNIVERSITY

Professor Stephen van Leeuwen is a botanical ecologist, executive manager and respected Wardandi Noongar leader with links to Country in the Busselton / Margaret River region. Stephen builds collaborative relationships with Traditional Custodians and other land managers to deliver novel enduring outcomes for biodiversity conservation, bio-cultural land management, and the enduring stewardship of Country.

Stephen is Australia’s first Indigenous Chair of Biodiversity and Environmental Science and is based at Curtin University. His position is supported by Curtin University, BHP and the National Environmental Science Program (NESP). Stephen has a diverse research pedigree developed over 40 years of applied research, principally in the rangelands (Pilbara and Western Desert) and the Kwongan sandplains of the south-west.

Stephen is the Director of the Australian Research Council’s Training Centre for Healing Country at Curtin University, a research and training Centre focused on the restoration economy for Indigenous Australians by Indigenous Australians. Stephen is also Deputy Leader and Senior Indigenous Facilitator for the NESP Resilient Landscapes Hub based at The University of Western Australia.

Stephen is a member of the Federal Environment Minister’s Indigenous Advisory Committee, and the Threatened Species Scientific Committee, Chair of the Murujuga Rock Art Sector Reference Group and member of the Botanic Gardens and Park Authority Board. Stephen is also a member of the Academy of Science’s National Committee for Ecology, Evolution and Conservation, a board member of the Ecological Society of Australia and Atlas of Living Australia, a Trustee for The Nature Conservancy, a member of Bush Heritage Australia’s Science and Conservation Committee and a member of the Research Committee supporting the Corporate Research Centre for Transformations in Mining Economies (CRC-TiME). In 2023 the Environmental Institute of Australia and New Zealand awarded Honorary Fellow status to Stephen for his outstanding contribution to the environment profession.

Stephen also Chairs the Karri Karrak Aboriginal Corporation, the registered native title entity that represents the Wardandi, Piblemen and Kaneang Noongar Traditional Custodians of the southwest corner of WA. In this position Stephen also holds a seat on the Noongar Relationship Committee, Noongar Advisory Committee and the Karri Karrak Cooperative Management Committee.