Four First Nations researchers have received grants from the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia with support from the Wilhelm, Martha, and Otto Rechnitz Memorial Fund.
This year’s recipients are David Windsor, a Kaurareg descendant from Kirriri Island in Zendath Kes (Torres Strait Islands); Pekeri Ruska, a Goenpul woman from Terrangerri | Minjerribah | North Stradbroke Island; Michelle Bishop, a Gamilaroi woman who grew up on Dharawal Country and Zac Roberts, a Walbunja Yuin man from the New South Wales south coast.
They are undertaking research in the areas of education, sovereignty, fire management practices and Aboriginal cowboy culture. They will receive financial support and resources from the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia to facilitate their ongoing research projects and contribute to building a stronger foundation for their future careers.
The Fund was established in 2022 to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander researchers in the social sciences. Grants of up to $20,000 enable innovative and meaningful research projects and help to establish the next generation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander scholars.
‘The Academy is committed to promoting a diverse and inclusive academic environment, and the Rechnitz Fund grants play a key role in advancing that goal,’ said Academy President Professor Kate Darian-Smith.
‘These grants are designed to support emerging Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander researchers, equipping them with the resources they need to pursue their important work and make meaningful contributions in their fields.’
‘We were pleased to receive a strong pool of applicants for these research awards, and we are confident that the successful recipients will make a lasting impact in their fields, for the benefit of their disciplines and all Australians,’ said Professor Darian-Smith.
‘The Academy is grateful to the Estate of Dr Wilhelm Rechnitz for supporting this work.’
The recipients will be formally announced at the launch of Social Sciences Week 2025 (8-14 September) at Parliament House in Canberra on Monday 1 September (from 7.30am) hosted by the Parliamentary Friends of Social Sciences.
Grant recipient information:
David Windsor
David Windsor is a Kaurareg descendant from Kirriri Island in Zendath Kes (Torres Strait Islands).
David is an Emergency Management professional with over 20 years in the field, including over a decade of volunteer service in bush fire management. He has been working as the Cultural Fire and Partnerships Coordinator at the Karla Katitjin Bushfire Centre of Excellence within the Department of Fire and Emergency Services in Western Australia since 2022.
David’s research will explore the intricate relationship between the Indigenous governance of First Nations Australians and fire management practices in Western Australia. It aims to understand how cultural governance frameworks, shaped by kinship, totems, and traditional ecological knowledge, define obligations and responsibilities for fire. By collaborating with First Nations communities – Bindjareb, Bunuba, and Walmajarri – the study will document cultural practices, social structures, and ecological knowledge, emphasising their role in sustainable land management and biodiversity conservation.
David Windsor quote:
‘I am extremely grateful to be a recipient of the Wilhelm, Martha, and Otto Rechnitz Memorial Fund from the Academy of the Social Sciences Australia. This grant will support Elders and Traditional Knowledge holders in telling their stories of fire and help connect our research team to the special environment of traditional ecological knowledges.
My goal is to help shape more inclusive, empowering, and culturally grounded approaches to fire management—both interstate and nationally—drawing on my extensive experience in mainstream fire planning and response, as well as my lived and professional insight.
This grant will directly support these field trips, helping ensure the research remains grounded in community, culture, and Country.’
Dr Pekeri Ruska
Dr Pekeri Ruska is a Goenpul woman of the Quandamooka people from Terrangerri | Minjerribah | North Stradbroke Island.
Pekeri is a Research Fellow with the ARC Centre of Excellence for Indigenous Futures, at the University of Queensland and holds a Bachelor of Law and a Bachelor of Arts (majoring in Journalism). She has worked as a lawyer at the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service, as General Manager of an Aboriginal housing co-operative and as a volunteer Co-Editor of Black Rising magazine. Driven by a career seeking justice for First Nations people, Pekeri pursued a PhD focusing on the ways First Nations sovereignty can be upheld in the face of colonialism.
Pekeri brings her lived experience, professional experience and academic qualifications to this project exploring the persistence of Indigenous sovereignty through the actions of Quandamooka (Goenpul, Ngugi and Noonuccal) people. The project will involve archival analysis, interviews with Quandamooka Elders, community members and young people.
Dr Pekeri Ruska quote:
‘The grant will be used to expand upon the case studies formulated in my thesis which identified the ongoing existence of Quandamooka sovereignty. Expanding on this foundation, the current project will investigate the ongoing existence Quandamoooka sovereignty through two additional case studies by considering the present-day actions of Quandamooka people. These case studies will demonstrate how Quandamooka sovereignty is enacted in contemporary contexts and is very much present in the current generation of Quandamooka people. I would like to thank the Wilhelm, Martha, and Otto Rechnitz Memorial Fund from the Academy of Social Sciences Australia for helping make this work possible.’
Dr Michelle Bishop
Dr Michelle Bishop is a Gamilaroi woman who grew up on Dharawal Country
Michelle has a Master of Education (Educational Psychology) and completed a PhD at Macquarie University in 2024 focused on Envisioning Indigenous Education Sovereignty. A former primary school teacher, Michelle is currently a Scientia Research Fellow and Senior Lecturer in Indigenous Education at UNSW.
Michelle is interested in education systems and Indigenous sovereignty as a way of ensuring Indigenous futurities. Michelle’s work seeks to address a critical issue that keeps many Indigenous communities awake at night – how to overcome the harm of mainstream schooling?
For this research, Michelle will work with an Aboriginal community in south-west Sydney that is in the early stages of navigating how to enact Indigenous education sovereignty (or education on our own terms). This project aims to strengthen relationships with Indigenous communities involved in education sovereignty movements, both locally and globally.
Dr Michelle Bishop quote:
‘I am humbled to receive this grant from The Wilhelm, Martha, and Otto Rechnitz Memorial Fund from the Academy of Social Sciences Australia. As a Gamilaroi scholar and educator, I am deeply passionate about education systems and Indigenous sovereignty as a way of ensuring Indigenous futurities, in recognition that education has been occurring very successfully on this continent for tens of thousands of years. With a central focus on relationality, this grant will connect Indigenous communities who are navigating colonial systems and structures to achieve education on their own terms. The work from this grant will contribute towards the enactment of Indigenous education sovereignty; taking steps to walk towards a vision of education our ancestors might recognize, for our grandchildren’s grandchildren.’
Dr Zac Roberts
Dr Zac Roberts is a Walbunja Yuin man from the New South Wales south coast.
Zac completed his PhD at Macquarie University in 2024, examining the history of Indigenous and Jewish community relations in Australia since 1788. He currently works as Lecturer in the Centre of Critical Indigenous Studies at Macquarie University.
As an historian, Zac is interested in how Indigenous peoples, histories, and identities have been erased, mediated, or moderated by settler archives and (re)tellings of Australian history.
Zac’s project will investigate the overlooked presence of Aboriginal people in Australian cowboy culture and how their participation has been rendered invisible within national memory and settler archives. While Aboriginal stockmen and ringers have long engaged in cattle work and embodied cowboy aesthetics—broad-brimmed hats, riding boots, and checked shirts—this cultural alignment has rarely been acknowledged as Indigenous.
Dr Zac Roberts quote:
‘This grant from the Academy’s Rechnitz Fund supports me as an Aboriginal early career researcher to challenge the national archive and history-making practices through a project exploring the intersection of Indigenous participation in Australia’s rural industries and Americanised cowboy culture. This project draws attention to both the persistence of Indigenous presences in cowboy spaces and the active role Indigenous peoples have played in shaping these cultural imaginaries. As someone whose family is closely connected to Australia’s rural industries, highlighting these histories and contemporary engagements is important to me both academically and personally, and I hope this project provides a meaningful contribution for others with similar stories.’
Read more about the Rechnitz Fund and the researchers it has supported on the Academy website.