Jumbunna Research

Associate Professor Fiona Allison is a researcher with expertise in access to justice for First Nations people in Australia in the areas of tenancy, consumer/credit and debt, social security, child protection and discrimination and in a criminal justice context. She has been a senior researcher on two pioneering Australia Research Council civil and family law projects investigating Indigenous access to justice. The first is the Indigenous Legal Needs Project (ILNP), a project exploring the civil and family law needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people nationally. A second project, Rethinking Indigenous Access to Civil Law Justice, seeks to redefine Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander definitions of access to justice. Fiona is also co-lead on Call it Out, the first register through which Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in Australia are able to report racism. Other areas of expertise include Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Justice Agreements and health justice partnerships.

Fiona is a leading expert in the area of justice reinvestment (JR), a framework that aims to reduce Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander incarceration through local, self-determined approaches addressing underlying drivers of contact with the justice system. She was lead investigator on the Northern Territory and Queensland JR pilot programs and is currently the JR data and research lead with Just Reinvest NSW, working directly with Aboriginal communities in Moree and Mt Druitt and across NSW at a broader policy level. She was also founding convenor of Justice Reinvestment Network Australia.

Fiona is Adjunct Research Fellow, Cairns Institute, James Cook University; Honorary Fellow, Menzies School of Health Research, Northern Territory; and a member of the Australian Discrimination Law Experts Group (ADLEG).

Fiona has taught legal studies at Tranby Aboriginal College in Sydney and worked at the Australian Human Rights Commission as a conciliator of race discrimination and human rights complaints. She has also worked as a solicitor at Community Legal Centres in remote NT and NSW.

Dr Lauren Booker (Garigal) is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Indigenous Archives and Data Stewardship Hub at Jumbunna Institute for Indigenous Education & Research, University of Technology Sydney and a member of the Indigenous Archives Collective. Lauren has worked across the Australian Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums sector (GLAM) on projects supporting First Nations communities and organisations to access Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property held in collecting institutions. This includes working in consultation with the public library network regarding language documentation identification and the use of manuscripts in language revitalisation. Her work also focuses on planning and facilitating the digitisation of cultural heritage and photographic collections, and the organisation of digital community archives. 

In 2024, was awarded her PhD in 2024 for a thesis titled 'Hair Samples as Ancestors and Futures of Community-led Collection Care' and was the recipent of the Australian Academy of the Humanities David Phillips Travelling Fellowship. She is also an active member of the Australian Society of Archivists.  

Lauren works in support of the Right to Know and the Right of Reply in archives, her current work is focused on expanding understandings of collection care and preservation.  

Michael Bryden is a criminologist, a Chancellor's Postdoctoral Indigenous Research Fellow, and is of both Palawa (Tasmanian Aboriginal) and English descent. His research explores policing, legitimacy, Indigenous self-determination, and 'epistemological consilience'.

Michael earned a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) from Monash University in 2012. Under the supervision of Dr. Justice Tankebe, Michael completed his MPhil in Criminological Research (2015) and his Doctor of Philosophy (2022) at the University of Cambridge. His doctoral research focuses on police self-legitimacy among recruits from Greater Manchester Police (UK). This was a longitudinal mixed-method study incorporating surveys, interviews, and ethnographic research with new recruits, trainers, and police officers. Professor Lawrence Sherman and Dr. Heather Strang served as his first-year reviewers, while Professor Barak Ariel and Professor Sarah Charman oversaw his viva.

Additionally, he participated in the 'Learning Together' program with people incarcerated at HM Prison Spring Hill (UK), and led interviews with incarcerated Indigenous people in Victoria, Australia. Also, he has mentored Indigenous Australian high school students through the Aurora Education Foundation. 

Michael hosts the Rethinking Deviance podcast. The podcast features academics and practitioners discussing crime, policing, and social policy, and has included world-renowned expert, Professor Lawrence Sherman. Available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

Dr Callum Clayton-Dixon is an Ambēyang / Anēwan researcher and language revivalist with bloodlines from the southern end of the New England Tableland, around Walcha, Woolbrook, and the Ingleba Aboriginal Reserve. He is an On-Country Research Fellow with the First Nations Land Justice Hub at the Jumbunna Institute for Indigenous Education and Research. Through his doctoral research, completed in 2025, Callum produced the first comprehensive grammar and dictionary of the Aboriginal language of southern New England. His NSW Premier's History Award-winning book Surviving New England: A History of Aboriginal Resistance and Resilience Through the First Forty Years of the Colonial Apocalypse (2019) is based on his Master’s research. Living and working on Anēwan Country in Armidale, Callum's work focuses on land-based language revival, taking a decolonial and multidisciplinary approach to linguistic reconstruction and archival reclamation. He was a founding member of the Anaiwan Language Revival Program in 2016.

Monica Galassi works as a Research Fellow at Jumbunna Research. She is an Italian anthropologist who has worked on several projects and initiatives to support Aboriginal self-determination and sovereignty in collecting institutions. Monica’s work and research interests focus on the importance of people having the right to access and manage their cultural heritage materials as a key driver for social justice.

In her previous roles in the Indigenous Services team at the State Library of NSW and at the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Data Archive (ATSIDA), Monica has collaborated with several local organisations, public libraries and Australian and international institutions to facilitate access to collections related to the histories and experiences of NSW Aboriginal peoples and communities. These collaborations included the development of digital projects, physical and digital archives and the progression of best practices and guidelines to inform participatory and sustainable partnerships. Monica’s work currently focuses on supporting Aboriginal priorities in digital community archiving on Country.

Monica was awarded a UTS Research Excellence Scholarship to undertake doctoral studies in the field of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander archival records that have been misplaced in Italy. Her PhD thesis is titled ‘Archivi Aborigeni in Italia/Aboriginal Archives in Italy. The translation of knowledge at the cultural interface. 

Mahlia Garay is a Ngarigo and Darkinjung woman from New South Wales, currently employed as a Research Fellow with Jumbunna Institute for Indigenous Education and Research in the Child Protection and Advocacy Hub. Mahlia graduated in 2023 from the University of Sydney with a Bachelor of Arts and Social Work (Honours). She has experience working with children and young people, having worked in various youth-based and community orientated roles, including being a high school mentor for Aurora Education Foundation. From 2021-2025 Mahlia was the NSW female representative for a youth governance group for the Kids Institute working on the National Roadmap for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Adolescent Health and Wellbeing.

Dr Kirsten Gray is a Yuwaalaraay and Muruwari woman with family connections to North Western NSW and is a member of the Indigenous Policy team within the Jumbunna Institute of Indigenous Education and Research. She has a background in advocacy, Indigenous policy and human rights, having begun her career representing vulnerable families within the statutory child protection system in NSW. 

Kirsten has spent years advocating for the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people including throughout her time at Australia's national human rights institution, the Australian Human Rights Commission, various international fora at the United Nations, and a number of Royal Commissions. This includes the Royal Commission into the Protection and Detention of Children in the Northern Territory and her time leading the Indigenous policy and engagement teams at the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of people with Disability.  

Kirsten completed her law PhD in 2024, entitled 'Indigenous voices from the bench: The contributions of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander judicial officers'. She is passionate about the impact of laws and policies on Indigenous Australians. 

Kirsten is a board member of the Healing Foundation, the Justice and Equity Centre (formerly PIAC) and the National Justice Project. 

Lachlan McDaniel is a proud member of the Kalari Clan of the Wiradjuri Nation. He currently serves as Associate Dean of Research at the Jumbunna Institute for Indigenous Education and Research at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS). At Jumbunna, he plays a pivotal role in shaping research strategy, mentoring higher degree researchers, translating Indigenous knowledge systems into academic practice and fostering collaborative partnerships with community, industry and government.

He completed a combined Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws (BA/LLB) at Macquarie University, during which he undertook an international exchange at the University of Calgary where he studied Canadian First Nations history, law and politics. He also completed a Continuing Education Certificate in Indigenous Governance at the Native Nations Institute at the University of Arizona, USA. In 2024 he achieved a Graduate Certificate in Wiradjuri Language, Culture and Heritage from Charles Sturt University.

His doctoral research is titled “Murungiyalinya: Wiradjuri Cultural Revitalisation and Its Socio-Political Significance to the Wiradjuri People”. The study examines the revitalisation of the Wiradjuri language and culture through community-driven initiatives reconnecting people to Country, tradition and identity. It explores how cultural renewal serves as a vehicle for socio-political empowerment, enabling the Wiradjuri people to assert self-determination and engage in nation-(re)building. 

Professionally, Lachlan has been engaged by government, not-for-profit and corporate sectors to support organisations in strengthening their engagement with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

George is the principal solicitor of the National Justice Project and an Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Technology and Macquarie University. He is well known for his extensive work in fighting for justice for people living with disabilities, the LGBTQI+ community, immigrants, prisoners, asylum seekers, youth detainees, and First Nations people. He also serves on the Advisory Board of Deadly Connections, and is a Committee Member of the Climate Justice Programme.

In addition to his expertise in social justice law, George specialises in defamation, privacy, negligence, property, finance and planning law. He is an Adjunct Professor at Macquarie University where he teaches law to the next generation of social justice advocates in the National Justice Project Social Justice Clinic, and he is also the chapter editor of Thomson Reuters The Laws of Australia: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders – Civil Justice Issues.

George co-founded the National Justice Project in 2016 with Dan Mori and Duncan Fine. As the principal solicitor of the National Justice Project his work involves using the law in ways that support and advance social justice and human rights in Australia. It does this by supporting those who are least able to access justice and whose cases can advance human rights within Australia and the Pacific region. In addition the National Justice Project has taken on a number of research, education, advocacy and reform projects such as the Health Justice Program, CopWatch, the Macquarie University Social Justice Clinic, Tech4Justice and the Monash University Social Justice Clinic.

Professor Jane O'Leary is an Australian expert in evidence-based diversity and inclusion (D&I) workplace practice. Her career has focused on translating academic research into highly trusted, widely used evidence-based guidance for Australian workplaces.  She has spent over twenty five years conducting rigorous industry research that has helped shape the national D&I debate and employment practice. 

Professor O'Leary currently serves as the Research Director at the Centre for Indigenous People and Work (CIPW), a joint initiative of the UTS Jumbunna Institute for Indigenous Education and Research and the UTS Business School. CIPW's vision is to reclaim the Indigenous employment narrative through rigorous, industry-based Indigenous-led research. She was appointed as the inaugural Research Director at the CIPW in 2025 for a  fixed two-year term. Her primary mandate is to work with Professor Nareen Young, CIPW Director, Joshua Gilbert CIPW Assistant Director and CIPW's External Advisory Council of Indigenous employment leaders to establish a rigorous, industry, and community-based research function, ensuring the Research Director position is handed over to an Indigenous researcher in two years’ time.

Prior to joining UTS, Professor O'Leary was the Research Director at Diversity Council Australia (DCA), an independent, not-for-profit workplace diversity advisor to business in Australia. She established DCA's strategic research function in 2009, and led DCA's research work for 16 years, enabling DCA to grow its reach and impact with employers and government and build a reputation for the quality of its evidence-based advice. This industry research has had methodological and policy influence, with DCA research being drawn on by the Australian Public Service Commission, the Australian Human Rights Commission, and numerous industry sectors.

While at DCA, Professor O'Leary worked with Dr Virginia Mapedzahama, Juliana Nkrumah AM and Astrid Perry OAM to secure and design R.I.S.E. R.I.S.E. is a collaborative project between DCA, Settlement Services International (SSI) and Chief Executive Women (CEW) and is funded by the Australian government Office for Women 2022-2026. RISE is working with 25 organisations across Australia to implement organisational change interventions that will help address systemic and organisational barriers for culturally and racially marginalised women in leadership.

Prior to DCA, Professor O'Leary worked in the Australian Public Service at the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency (EOWA) (1997–2001). She held the senior policy position responsible for developing the policy framework for interpreting and administering the amended Affirmative Action (Equal Employment Opportunity for Women) Act 1986. In recognition of her work in this government role, she was awarded the Centenary Medal for Significant Contribution to the Australian Public Service in 2001.

Prior to this, Prof O'Leary worked in the Queensland University of Technology at the (then) Academic Staff Development Unit and was co-author of the highly cited government commissioned report, Developing Lifelong Learners Through Undergraduate Education, which identified and described how undergraduate education could be designed to develop lifelong learners.

Creative and people-focused professional with extensive experience in research management, digital storytelling, and community partnerships. Over more than a decade, I have worked with Indigenous communities, researchers, and organisations to support projects that are community driven, meaningful and grounded in respect. I enjoy collaborating with teams to deliver work that strengthens connections and upholds Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander sovereignty and self-determination.

Mandy has worked in the tertiary education sector for over three decades in a number of diverse roles including as a Senior HR Partner and Business Manager for the Office of Indigenous Strategy and Engagement, Flinders University. Mandy joined the team at Jumbunna Research in 2019 as a research project manager with the Indigenous Nation Building and Governance hub and is involved in the project management of ARC grants, including a Laurate Fellowship, Centre of Excellence and Indigenous Discovery grants within the Jumbunna Institute - Research more broadly.