Blacademia

Adam Fletcher is a proud Gringai Wonnarua man who is a member of the Lester Family. The family have Traditional Ownership connections to the Allyn River near Barrington as well as the former St Clair Mission in Mount Olive near Singleton. He is incredibly passionate about understanding and implementing the concepts of self-determination, free prior and informed consent and First Nations cultural and economic sovereignty and believes that we need to equip our future generations with the skills and networks to make their visions for a shared cultural understanding a reality.

He has worked at National Australia Bank for over 15 years, starting as a Graduate in the Internal Audit team before working in roles across Project Portfolio Governance, Group Strategy Execution, Customer-centred change delivery. He now leads the NSW / ACT Indigenous Business Specialisation and is passionate about Industry returning to education environments. Adam holds a Masters Degree in Social Change Leadership from Melbourne University, is a Senior Fellow of the Atlantic Fellows for Social Equity. He completed his undergraduate double degrees of Business and Economics, majoring in Marketing, Management and, Money, Banking, Trade and Finance at the University of Newcastle.

Adam believes that the current models of education are ready for disruption, with a focus on place-based learning, community, partnerships and bringing the lived experience of the students and families into the school community central to improving equity.

Relevant links from this episode:

Atlantic Fellow

https://www.socialequity.atlanticfell...

Dr Gemma Sentance, Wiradjuri woman and legal eagle extraordinaire recently completed her PhD which investigated the experiences of First Nations law graduates in colonial legal institutions. In our yarn we discuss, gifts, and how academia can be a space of empowerment. This episode includes discussions of mental health.

Gemma is today a Senior Research Fellow with Jumbunna Institute for Indigenous Education and Research. She has previously worked as a research assistant on an Australian Research Council project exploring the experiences of criminalised First Nations women engaging with the legal system in NSW. She also has experience working as a graduate solicitor for the NSW government and has a Bachelor of Laws from UTS, Master of Criminal Justice and Criminology from UNSW, and a graduate Certificate in Wiradjuri Language, Culture and Heritage from CSU. Gemma co-leads the Kathleen Fitzpatrick Fellowship with Professor Juanita Sherwood, a program that forms part of the ARC Laureate awarded to Distinguished Professor Larissa Behrendt OA.

Book referenced by Gemma in this ep.

Thunder in my Soul: A Mohawk Woman Speaks. By Patricia Monture-Angus.

https://fernwoodpublishing.ca/book/th...

Luke Pearson is a Gamilaraay man, who founded IndigenousX in 2012. IndigenousX is a 100% Indigenous owned and operated media, consultancy, and training organisation

IndigenousX believes in the principles of self-determination and works to effect change by upholding Indigenous knowledges, voices and ways of being

Luke leads the IndigenousX team and oversees day to day operations across the different sections of the business. Luke’s passion for IndigenousX stems from his commitment to Indigenous self-determination, truth-telling, and education. In this episode we discuss opportunity, hypervisibility and gate keeping.

Relevant links:

IndigenousX https://indigenousx.com.au/

A Pairrebenne Trawlwoolway woman from Tebrakunna Country in northeast Trouwerner (Tasmania), Dr Lauren Tynan’s research areas encompass human geography and Indigenous studies, developing original methodological approaches, and contending with ethics, climate change and land management issues. In 2025 her PhD was awarded without correction. It is entitled Kin and Country: Relational Research, Cultural Fire and Indigenous Futurities. With an interest in Indigenous and decolonising methodologies, Lauren’s research focuses on relationality with Country, largely through Aboriginal cultural burning practices and fire.

Relevant links/articles:

Tynan, Lauren. (2020). Thesis as kin: living relationality with research. AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples. 16. 117718012094827. 10.1177/1177180120948270.

The book Amy refers to is by bell hooks ‘All About Love: New Visions’ (1999).

From hairdresser’s apprentice, to primary school teacher of over 15 years, Kahlia Saunders is a Gunditjmara and Boandik woman who now leads in the language revitalisation space as a Language and Culture Officer across NSW.

Relevant Links from this episode:

Wollotuka: https://www.newcastle.edu.au/our-uni/...

8 Ways: https://www.8ways.online/about

Nb:

In this episode I (Amy) refer to the experiences of First in Family students being the minority of university students, which was true when Kahlia and I were studying our degrees and was true when I last dove into the student population data for my own thesis work (2020). However, it is interesting to note that over the past two decades, the Government has supported Universities in widening participation, and in recent years the impact of these measures has begun to impact the enrolment data in exciting and interesting ways.

In 2021 the rate of First in Family students was approaching 50%.

https://theconversation.com/odds-are-...

In 2025, post recording of this episode, it was reported that the number of FIF students has risen to 2/3rds of the student population. Meaning that for the first time, FIF students are no longer the minority of the University student population.

https://www.acses.edu.au/new-report-r...

A Pairrebenne Trawlwoolway woman from Tebrakunna Country in northeast Trouwerner (Tasmania), Dr Lauren Tynan’s research areas encompass human geography and Indigenous studies, developing original methodological approaches, and contending with ethics, climate change and land management issues. In 2025 her PhD was awarded without correction. It is entitled Kin and Country: Relational Research, Cultural Fire and Indigenous Futurities. With an interest in Indigenous and decolonising methodologies, Lauren’s research focuses on relationality with Country, largely through Aboriginal cultural burning practices and fire.

In this episode I yarn with Wonnarua woman and fierce medical advocate - Dr Leila Usher Obstetrician & Gynaecologist; FRANZCOG, MBBS; HNELHD - JHH, NMH. Please note that this episode includes discussion of Women’s Business, systemic violence, birth and hospital trauma, as well as discussions of Aboriginal people and loved ones who have passed away.

This is the final episode for season 1 of Blacademia. This week's guest is Dr Lorraine Muller.

My guest for Season 1, Episode 7 is the remarkable DR MARLENE LONGBOTTOM.

In this episode we yarn up about:

The value fo connection, mentorship, and uplifting/supporting mob in the academy and community

What does being a 'post-doc' mean?

Working in Hawaii

The Australian bushfire crisis, and how Dr Longbottom contributed to mobilising community support via social media

In this yarn we explore what it actually means to be an astrophysicist, the power of part-time and finding what works best for you in study, and how deadly good ways STEMM can be.