Meet two of our strong Indigenous women in STEM

Two academics from the School of Health and Biomedical Sciences discuss their experiences as proud Indigenous women in STEM.

This year, the theme for NAIDOC week is ‘Keep the Fire Burning! Blak, Loud and Proud’, and Professor Rhonda Wilson and Rebecca Hird Fletcher are two Indigenous women who are embodying this theme through their work as academics in the STEM College.

Wilson is a descendant of the Wiradjuri people and a Professor of Mental Health Nursing in the School of Health and Biomedical Sciences.

Wilson's work focuses on improving the outcomes for people with mental health conditions, using digital health innovation to design supportive mental health care.

She is also working on integrating First Nations knowledge into mental health care practices.

“One project I am working on involves integrating First Nations yarning models into business as usual for clinical practice, education and research,” she said.

“In doing so, we are working to decolonise the mental health environment so that we improve cultural safety and cultural responses.”

“This is very important because we know that lack of cultural safety leads to worse health outcomes for First Nations people,” she said.

Professor Rhonda Wilson is an internationally recognised mental health nursing scientist with a research focus on digital health interventions.

Wilson feels that it is a cultural obligation to imbed her Indigenous perspective in her work, through the way she approaches her work and the outcomes she produces.

“A Wiradjuri perspective is to bring ‘yindyamarra’ to my work – that is, a deep, unhurried (yet timely), mindful respect and love to my work,” she said.

“I have a responsibility to produce culturally safe and responsive scientific evidence towards strengthening and improving the health, mental health and social and emotional wellbeing outcomes for First Nations people.”

Being an Indigenous woman in STEM has been a challenge for Wilson throughout her academic career, and she sees this reflected in her fellow Indigenous STEM colleagues.

“It is a tough gig... there is a cultural burden, a workload that is invisible to many in academia and STEM,” she said.

“It is my cultural responsibility to help others learn about the impacts of colonisation on First Nation people, but it comes at a cost of time and emotional labour.”

Wilson spoke about the importance of acknowledging the role STEM research has had in exploiting Aboriginal communities and knowledges.

“Globally, historically, our people have been marginalised through Western research methods and approaches,” she said.

“Approaches or designs of research have spoken about us without us.”

“Challenging these norms can be uncomfortable at times, and it often requires courage to speak up,” she said.

Fletcher is also committed to ensuring that First Nations voices are heard through her research.

She is a proud GuriNgai woman with strong Awabakal ties through her matrilineal line.

She is also a Vice-Chancellor's Indigenous Doctoral Fellow in the School of Health and Biomedical Sciences.

Currently, she is researching the needs of First Nations children and young people who experience detention in Southern Queensland, using Indigenous Research Methods and following Indigenous Research Principles.

a woman sits in front of an Aboriginal artwork

Rebecca Hird Fletcher's research focuses on understanding the needs of young First Nations peoples who experience detention.

“I’m constantly inspired by the spirit of the young First Nations peoples who I meet at the detention centres and committed to research with them in a way that allows for their voices to be heard,” she said.

“I engage with First Nations children and young people in the youth detention centres and community most weeks and facilitate Cultural art circles together.”

“The engagement and consultation with the children, young people and the community fosters the development of respectful relationships, and informs the shape and design of my research,” she said.

Fletcher’s Indigenous perspective is a constant aspect of her life and is integral to her work as a STEM academic.

“There is no separating my identity as a First Nations woman in any aspect of my life,” she said.

“Unfortunately, First Nations academics can feel isolated as there few other First Nations academics.”

“However, RMIT is addressing this with strategies like the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Employment Plan, so hopefully in the near future, First Nations peoples are as represented in the University as they are in community,” she said.

When asked what Fletcher would say to any young First Nations women who are interested in careers in STEM, she emphasised the value of finding your support system.

Follow your passion, trust your instincts, and create a circle of people around you who you can confide in and who will support you in your journey.

Wilson also stressed the importance of empowering young Indigenous people to seize opportunities to succeed in their academic and STEM ambitions.

“Many of us are first generation university graduates… Our Mob don’t have a generational strength in higher education or health professions,” she said.

“As Sisters, Aunts, Mothers, Grandmothers, Daughters, we carry a responsibility to care for Mob... Every First Nations university graduate in Australia builds our collective future one step brighter and brings our Mob more strength, success, and pride.”

Story by: Sheridan van Gelderen

05 July 2024

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Acknowledgement of Country

RMIT University acknowledges the people of the Woi wurrung and Boon wurrung language groups of the eastern Kulin Nation on whose unceded lands we conduct the business of the University. RMIT University respectfully acknowledges their Ancestors and Elders, past and present. RMIT also acknowledges the Traditional Custodians and their Ancestors of the lands and waters across Australia where we conduct our business - Artwork 'Sentient' by Hollie Johnson, Gunaikurnai and Monero Ngarigo.

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Meet two of our strong Indigenous women in STEM