A professor recognised for a 35-year career in Indigenous education has been honoured with a Career Achievement Award, celebrating her commitment to making university accessible and welcoming for Indigenous students.
UQ's Professor of Indigenous Education Tracey Bunda is among six UQ recipients of the 2024 Australian Awards for University Teaching (AAUT).
Professor Bunda is a Ngugi/Wakka Wakka woman who has reshaped the narrative on Indigenous education, creating a sustainable global model that embeds Indigenous knowledge in research and the higher education curriculum.
"One thing I've been really pleased to see throughout my career is the diversification of degrees that our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students complete," Professor Bunda said.
"I think it is a pivotal moment in your teaching when you realise the knowledge and skills you are trying to deliver are applied.
"The students not only benefit from that, but you benefit from it as a teacher.
"I really love being able to pass on my knowledge and experience onto the next generation, and I also think it's important that older Indigenous scholars do that, so we can share the traditions that we grew up with."
Professor Bunda's impact is far-reaching with more than 50 publications cited over 1,000 times globally and $35.8 million in research funding to advance Indigenous methodologies.
She also received a 2024 UQ Award for Teaching and Excellence alongside her longtime collaborator Associate Professor Katelyn Barney, for their co-teaching method to 'indigenise' curriculum through aboriginal storytelling.
UQ Vice-Chancellor Professor Deborah Terry AC said Professor Bunda had made an outstanding contribution as a highly respected leader at UQ.
"Over the past four decades, Professor Bunda has driven real change, ensuring that Indigenous perspectives and approaches are considered in the context of curriculum design," Professor Terry said.
"Her tremendous leadership has been vital in terms of empowering Indigenous voices, reshaping narratives, and advancing the national project of national reconciliation."
UQ educators received five other awards for outstanding contributions to student learning:
- Dr Cassandra France - bridging the dynamism gap for business marketing students: Navigating the dynamic nature of strategic marketing through experiential design and reflection of simulation learnings
- Professor Elizabeth Krenske - inspiring chemistry students to think beyond the laboratory, through an innovative research-led quantum chemistry curriculum that harnesses student-centred pedagogy to foster confident learning
- Dr Suja Pillai - commitment to learner-centred philosophy, fostering an environment that inspires passion, creativity, lifelong learning for pathology, and profoundly shaping the future of medical doctors
- Dr Sergeja Slapnicar - management accounting in action: Real-world lessons from and for startups
- Dr Zoe Staines and Dr Gerhard Hoffstaedter of the Social Sciences team - co-creating imaginative, innovative, and engaging new resources for social science students to become effective social change agents.
"I am incredibly proud of all our recipients who represent the breadth of knowledge and commitment to teaching we have to offer at UQ," Professor Terry said.
"Their dedication ensures that UQ continues to be the nation's most awarded university for teaching excellence in the AAUT's 27-year history."
A full list of the 2024 recipients can be found on the Universities Australia website.
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