Publications

Shibasaki S, Sibthorpe B, Watkin Lui F, et al. Flipping the researcher knowledge translation perspective on knowledge use: a   scoping study. AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples. 2019;15(3):271-280. doi:10.1177/1177180119865636

The first community of practice of Torres Strait Islander researchers in Australia was established to ensure knowledge translation efforts are effective in addressing the gap between “what is known” and “what is currently done” in policy and practice settings in the region. The scoping review involved a search of publicly accessible and relevant online databases and a rapid appraisal of systematic reviews and scoping studies of knowledge translation models and frameworks. The search identified 156 knowledge translation models and frameworks, of which 15 models and frameworks were selected for analysis. Selected models described knowledge use in terms of characteristics about the individual or the individual’s context. Surprisingly, given the growth in information about knowledge translation and research impact, there appear to be very few knowledge translation models and frameworks that were framed from the perspective of the knowledge user, and there was no model or framework that was a stand-alone pull approach.

Nakata M, Nakata V, Day A and Peachey M (2019) Closing gaps in Indigenous undergraduate higher education outcomes: repositioning the role of student support services to improve retention and completion rates. Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, 48 (1). pp. 1-11

The current change agenda to improve the persistently lower rates of access, participation and outcomes of Indigenous Australians in higher education is a broad one that attempts to address the complex range of contributing factors. A proposition in this paper is that the broad and longer-term focus runs the risk of distracting from the detailed considerations needed to improve support provisions for enrolled students in the immediate term. To bring more attention to this area of indicated change, we revisit ‘the gaps’ that exist between the performance of Indigenous and all other domestic students and the role that student support services have to play in improving retention and completion rates of enrolled Indigenous students. We outline some principles that can guide strategies for change in Indigenous undergraduate student support practices in Australian universities to respond to individual student needs in more effective and timely ways. These are illustrated using examples from the redevelopment of services provided by an Indigenous Education centre in a Go8 university, along with data gathered from our ARC study into Indigenous academic persistence in formal learning across three Australian universities.