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Improving Indigenous Research Capabilities Project

Improving Indigenous Research Capabilities: Building an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Research Data Commons

Representing the interests of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander researchers, corporations, organisations and communities across Australia, this project will build on the work of national and international frameworks of Indigenous data governance and Indigenous data sovereignty. The project will collectively strengthen the foundations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander data governance, use, accessibility and management principles.

Phase 2 of the project (2024–2028) extends the foundations developed in Phase 1 (2022–2024), through parallel streams of activity:

  • Foundation Stream: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander data governance and sovereignty
    • The Foundation Stream will facilitate collaboration among Indigenous data governance leaders and stakeholders from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and data custodians. This stream aims to develop Indigenous data governance principles and frameworks, such as the (ABS APS document Levi developed?). It will convene an annual roundtable of representatives from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and organisations participating in the project, other national and international experts, Indigenous Knowledge holders and other Indigenous data custodians.
  • Sub-Stream 1: Indigenous research data catalogue resources and extensions.
    • Sub-Stream 1 will include use cases across multiple Indigenous data custodians to review, refine and extend the Indigenous Data Network Catalogue model. This will include the digitisation and cataloguing of Indigenous data held by several Australian universities and contextual application of the Indigenous Data Catalogue model and tooling at the Yirrkala School Language Production Centre.
  • Sub-Stream 2: Indigenous spatio-temporal frameworks and infrastructure.
  • Sub-Stream 3: Data capability building for Indigenous digital futures in Indigenous Australia.
  • Sub-Stream 4: Indigenous data repositories and data rematriation.

To date, the project has:

  • Established foundational Indigenous sovereign data capabilities, tools and infrastructure
  • Established novel data governance frameworks that are culturally appropriate and aligned with community needs
  • Developed the IDN Catalogue Project, which includes:
    • Data Catalogue
    • Spatial Data Catalogue
    • Vocabularies
  • Developed a tool to calculate levels of correlation with FAIR and CARE data principles, and other scores for a test set of catalogued Indigenous datasets
  • Digitised initial legacy assets
  • Translated interoperability between data infrastructures and platforms
  • Translated traditional indexing methods to machine-readable metadata
  • Developed schema, which translates existing metadata to a consistent basis
  • Delivered training programs and workshops that significantly enhanced the capabilities of Indigenous data technicians and researchers
  • Fostered strong international partnerships and integrated Indigenous knowledge systems with research data science

Phase 2 project partners include:

  • Indigenous Data Network, The University of Melbourne (lead)
  • Australian Research Data Commons (ARDC)
  • The Australian National University
  • Queensland University of Technology (QUT)
  • The University of Adelaide
  • Griffith University
  • Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS)
  • Empowered Communities
  • CSIRO
  • Kimberley Aboriginal Health Research Alliance (KAHRA)
  • Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS)
  • Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW)
  • National Film and Sound Archive of Australia
  • National Imaging Facility
  • KurrawongAI

Learn more about the IIRC

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.
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Improving Indigenous Research Capabilities is a co-investment partnership with the Australian Research Data Commons (ARDC) through the HASS and Indigenous Research Data Commons (DOI: 10.3565/pr3g-s109). The ARDC is enabled by the Australian Government’s National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS).
© Indigenous Data Network 2025