Indigenous Research Collaboration Getting Started between Hokkaido and Melbourne U

Between 22 and 29 June 2023, an indigenous research team from The University of Melbourne (UoM) visited Hokkaido University (HU): Professor Barry Judd, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Indigenous); Professor Aaron Corn, Inaugural Director of the Indigenous Knowledge Institute and his fellow Ms. Kirsten Clark; Professor Richard Chenhall in Medical Anthropology; Ms. Margot Eden, Director of Indigenous Strategy: Dr. Cameo Dalley in Indigenous Studies Programme; Dr. Vanessa Russ, Head of Indigenous Collections; and Dr. Kristen Smith, Mr. Levi-Craig Murray and Dr. Trent Ryan of the Indigenous Data Network.

Professor Barry Judd, DVC (Indigenous), University of Melbourne

HU and UoM have shared their intention to expand inter-university research-based collaborations which originally started from Infectious Diseases and Nano-materials research; thanks to positive impact of the Hokkaido-Melbourne Joint Research Workshops Fund established in 2022, they conducted academic exchanges in Healthcare for Older Adults, Living Environments, Philosophy, and Mechanical Engineering. Indigenous Studies are another important field for HU, which has the Center for Ainu and Indigenous Studies (CAIS) and promotes related research activities at the Global Institution for Collaborative Research and Education (GI-CoRE), a faculty organization directly managed by the University President. It is also important for UoM, which founded the afore-mentioned Indigenous Knowledge Institute and designated its very first Deputy Vice-Chancellor in charge of indigenous affairs.

Meeting with Sapporo Ainu Association

Workshop on Indigenous Health

The UoM delegation made full use of their eight-day stay in Hokkaido by visiting Nibutani Kotan (Ainu Village) in Biratori, Upopoy the National Ainu Museum and Park in Shiraoi, and the Sapporo Ainu Association together with Professor Hirofumi Kato, Director of CAIS, and having interactions with local Ainu people. They shared common issues in Australian and Hokkaido indigenous communities through meetings, two research workshops and a conference: poverty, alcoholism and domestic violences in indigenous households; career paths of indigenous people; ownership of indigenous collections currently stored by national/regional governments or universities; limited accessibility to own roots for those who are born from an indigenous and non-indigenous couple and for indigenous families growing up outside regional indigenous communities. Active discussions included significance and difficulties regarding non-indigenous researchers’ involvement in Indigenous Studies, how academic institutions can initiate research projects cooperating with indigenous communities, universities’ role in connecting sometimes closed indigenous communities and their potential oversea counterparts, universities as a place for government-community dialogues, co-education in Indigenous Studies, etc.

Workshop on University Management and Indigenous People

Workshop on Indigenous Health

In the HU-UoM Conference on Indigenous Studies on June 28, indigenous research teams happily welcomed Professor Michael Wesley, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Global, Cultural and External Engagement); Professor Adrian Little, Pro Vice-Chancellor (International); Associate Professor Alex Johnson, Associate Dean of the Faculty of Science; and Ms Carol Cheng of the Chancellery Global, Cultural and Engagement, UoM; and Ms Janine Pitt, Counsellor (Education and Research) and Ms Kumiko Tsukamoto, Senior Manager (Education and Research), Australian Embassy Japan. The delegation was warmly hosted by HU leaderships, President Kiyohiro Houkin, Executive Vice Presidents Aya Takahashi (International Affairs) and Atsushi Yokota (Finance, SDGs), and fellow faculties. The delegation led by Professor Wesley visited faculties of Agriculture, Global Food Resources, Vaccine Development, Science, and Health Sciences. This inter-university linkage will be followed up by the next joint research workshops in Agriculture held in Hokkaido in July and Melbourne in November 2023.

HU-UoM Conference on Indigenous Studies (from left to right: EVPs Atsushi Yokota and Aya Takahashi, HU, DVCs Michael Wesley and Barry Judd, UoM, Prof. Aaron Corn, UoM, Prof. Hirofumi Kato, HU)

UoM Chancellery International’s Visit to Research Faculty of Agriculture

(CAIS, GI-CoRE, Institute for International Collaboration)