Latest news
Read the latest research, achievements, and stories emerging from the Carumba Institute with news highlighting Indigenous-led research, community partnerships, and the impactful work of our researchers, students, and collaborators.
Explore how Carumba is advancing Indigenous knowledges and driving meaningful change across health, education, culture, and beyond.
QUT celebrates Indigenous Nationals squad heading to Newcastle
Sixteen student-athletes will represent QUT at the 2026 Indigenous Nationals in Newcastle next week, including seven students making their debut.
QUT and CareerTrackers collaborate on real-world learning for Indigenous students
A decade since becoming the first Australian university to sign a 10-year agreement with CareerTrackers, QUT is committing another three years to the national non-profit organisation which links Indigenous university students with private sector internship opportunities.
QUT celebrates new Discovery Early Career Researcher Awards
Five QUT researchers have received ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Awards (DECRA), on projects covering topics from social justice to sustainability, valued at $2,529,831.
2025 news
Top legal expert addresses Meanjin Oration
28 November 2025Dr Tony McAvoy SC, esteemed barrister and 2018 QUT Alumnus of the Year, has returned to QUT to deliver the university’s signature Indigenous excellence address, the Meanjin Oration. Australia’s first Indigenous senior counsel, Dr McAvoy SC has spent more than 40 years advocating for Indigenous Australian rights across native title, human rights and constitutional law reform.
QUT writers shine at Queensland Literary Awards
29 September 2025Proud Darumbal and South Sea Islander woman Dr Amy McQuire, a senior lecturer from the Carumba Institute, has won the top prize at the 2025 Queensland Literary Awards. Her rigorous interrogation of some of Australia's most troubling criminal cases involving Indigenous peoples, 'Black Witness: The Power of Indigenous Media' (UQP), won the $30,000 Queensland Premier's Award for a Work of State Significance. Award judges said Black Witness was a work of outstanding scholarly rigour and moral clarity.
Carumba Institute advances approaches to eliminate institutional racism
8 July 2025Carumba Institute researchers have had an article published in the Medical Journal of Australia's special 'Indigenous health' issue examining the challenge of eliminating racism in health care by addressing race and culture directly.
The perspective piece offers a framework for developing an Indigenous antiracist training approach, devised through the work of the Carumba Institute and Children’s Health Queensland Hospital and Health Service, as part of an NHMRC Indigenous Health grant.
2024 news
Indigenous scholars help shape Australian culture and society
5 December 2024Two esteemed QUT Indigenous academics, Professor Chelsea Watego and Dr Amy McQuire, have been featured in a powerful compilation of essays published in a new book. 'Essays that Changed Australia: Meanjin 1940 to today' (Melbourne University Publishing) is billed as a curated collection of essays that have shaped Australia’s culture and society.
Anti-racist educational intervention for health workers: NHMRC Indigenous Health grant
17 October 2024The Carumba Institute and Children's Health Queensland Hospital and Health Service (CHQHHS) have been awarded an NHMRC Medical Research Futures Fund Indigenous Health grant of $994,963.50 to develop an anti-racist educational intervention in children's health and hospital services.
Meanjin Oration powers Black Knowing through song
13 September 2024The power of Black Knowing through stories and song has been elevated in a moving QUT event featuring leading First Nations songwriter Uncle Joe Geia, a proud Guugu Yimidhirr Kaurareg man. The 2024 Meanjin Oration, 'Sing for the Black – From the Act to Treaty', told the story of Aboriginal life in Australia through song on the eve of the 17th anniversary of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Indigenous Australian doctoral graduates receive Outstanding Doctoral Thesis Awards
6 September 2024Three QUT Indigenous Australian doctoral graduates have received the prestigious Outstanding Doctoral Thesis Award (ODTA). The awards are provided to the top five per cent of HDR doctoral students annually the year after they graduate, with nominations from examiners reviewed by faculty committees and ultimately decided by the Research Degrees Committee.
2024 Meanjin Oration a musical journey through Black history
29 August 2024Uncle Joe Geia, acclaimed singer songwriter, guitarist, didgeridoo player, and pioneer of contemporary Indigenous music, will deliver the 2024 QUT Meanjin Oration.
'Black journalism' the path to equality and justice: QUT researcher
16 July 2024The role of activism in Black media, Indigenous deaths in custody, and the justice and legal system are some of the issues raised in an incisive new book from award-winning journalist and QUT researcher Dr Amy McQuire.
Artwork: 'the point of the spear', courtesy of artist Judy Watson and Milani Gallery, Meanjin/Brisbane.