The Second visit by the University of Melbourne Indigenous Delegates

HU leaderships and delegates

From the 22^nd to 31^st of July 2024, Hokkaido University (HU) received delegates led by Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Indigenous) Barry Judd from the University of Melbourne (UoM), a strategic international partner of the University.  This was the second visit paid by DVC Judd; Professor Aaron Corn, Inaugural Director of the Indigenous Knowledge Institute; Director Margot Eden and Associate Director Kirsten Clark of Indigenous Strategy; Professor Richard Chenhall, Director of the Centre for Health Equity; and Associate Professor Kristen Smith, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, following their visit in June 2023.  They were accompanied by Manager Tarneen Callope and Administrative Officer Kirraeyani Callope from the Indigenous Knowledge Institute and Ms Ruby Bannatyne, PhD candidate and graduate researcher in Indigenous Studies.  Professors Judd, Corn and Chenhall are now jointly appointed as invited faculties by the Global Station for Indigenous Studies and Cultural Diversity (GSI), Global Institution for Collaborative Research and Education (GI-CoRE), HU.  The delegates audited a Hokkaido Summer Institute course Introduction to Ainu and Indigenous Studies II: Ainu Cultural Heritage and Cultural Landscape in Biratori Town of Hokkaido, which was taught by GSI Director and Professor Hirofumi Kato, Center for Ainu and Indigenous Studies, visited the Sapporo Ainu Culture Promotion Center Sapporo Pirika Kotan, had meetings with the Sapporo Ainu Association and HU’s Office of Ainu Relations and Initiatives, and delivered talks on UoM’s ongoing indigenous community-engaged activities through the GSI Guest Panel Discussion with the University of Melbourne Members for students from HU, UoM, and other institutions.

Poster of the discussion event

During their visit, a courtesy call was hosted by President Kiyohiro Houkin, and joined by Executive Vice President Junji Yamaguchi (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion), EVP Tsuyoshi Setoguchi (Research), EVP Fumihiko Yamamoto (Office of Ainu Relations and Initiatives), Professor Taro Yamauchi, Director of the Center for Environmental Health Sciences, and Professor Kato.  The delegates and HU members happily talked about flourishing inter-university research-based relationship in the past three years. DVC Judd noted, “For Australian universities, research collaborations on Indigenous Studies were mostly with Canada, New Zealand and Hawaii, however, collaborations with Hokkaido and Taiwan broadened its Pacific-rim researcher and community network.”  He also emphasized the importance of this inter-university partnership, and it should mean something for the two universities to connect Hokkaido Ainu and Australian Aboriginal younger generations.

Left to right: Prof. Kato, EVP Setoguchi, President Houkin, and EVP Yamaguchi

 

Left to right: DVC Judd, Dir. Eden, and Prof. Corn

 

President Houkin gifted a copy of the book

 

Meeting with the Office of Ainu Relations and Initiatives

 

The UoM delegates shared recent initiatives and situations with HU leadership: 1.) relaxation of entry requirements from indigenous undergraduate to PhD students, 2.) plan to establish a place where UoM’s indigenous archived materials would be gathered, 3.) publication of a truth-telling book, Dhoombak Goobgoowana A History of  Indigenous Australia and the University of Melbourne, and 4.) now the University is a leading Australian institution on the point of indigenous personnel management.

Academics in Indigenous Studies will reunite in coming October for a Hokkaido-Melbourne Joint Research Workshop on Co-creation of Women’s Health: Enhancing Global menstrual Health and Hygiene and plan an intensive three-week co-educational program on Indigenous Studies in connection with a scheduled international indigenous forum in Hokkaido in 2025 and cooperation with Indigenous societies of Hokkaido and Australia.  Indigenous Studies, a definite distinctive field of research for both universities, will be cultivated further through government-academia-community communications.

(Text and photos provided by the Global Institution for Collaborative Research and Education, Centre for Ainu and Indigenous Studies, and Office for International Collaborations)