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About Us

The Indigenous Data Network (IDN) is a national network of Aboriginal community-controlled organisations, university research partners, Indigenous businesses and government agencies and departments.

We work to support and coordinate the governance of Indigenous data for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and to empower Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities to decide their own local data priorities.

Led by a Steering Committee of experts and stakeholders, the IDN works to engage with and leverage internationally leading developments in the data sciences to maximise the optimal collection, access and use of data resources for community empowerment. Functions of the IDN include providing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and organisations access to research expertise to facilitate their data priorities; supporting access to data held by others; and to build data capacity within Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities across Australia.

Our story

The IDN was founded in 2018 through a partnership between the University of Melbourne, the Australian National University and the Australian Institute for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS).

The IDN continues to form new partnerships and to grow the network nationally, connecting more Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and organisations, universities, and government agencies and departments.

The Indigenous Data Network acknowledges the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Traditional Custodians of the lands on which we work and live. We pay respect to their Elders, past and present, and the place of Indigenous Knowledge in the academy and beyond. We acknowledge and respect that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have always used resources from the land and waters for nourishment, medicine and healing.
© Indigenous Data Network 2025