Pat Dudgeon, Adjunct Professor at the School of Indigenous Studies, University of Western Australia
Pat Dudgeon is from Bardi people of the Kimberley. Pat came to Perth to study psychology and afterwards joined the Centre for Aboriginal Studies at Curtin as a lecturer in 1987.

She was appointed as Head of the Centre for Aboriginal Studies in 1990 and has led the organization through significant growth and change. Since then it has maintained national leadership as a important provider in Indigenous higher education, offering a range of different undergraduate and postgraduate award courses to members of the Indigenous community and also to non-Indigenous students who study Indigenous issues.

Under her leadership, the Centre for Aboriginal Studies developed a positive, supportive environment for Indigenous peoples and communities maintaining National recognition as an outstanding institute for Indigenous higher education. For instance, Curtin was the first University to adopt a Statement of Reconciliation and the development of a University wide policy on Indigenous Governance.

Amongst many projects, grants and awards achieved during her leadership, of significance was the Curtin Indigenous Research Centre (CIRC), established in 1997, under the auspices of The Centre for Aboriginal Studies, after a grant of $1.8 million from DEST. This has enhanced Indigenous research and capacity at Curtin.

As well as leadership in Indigenous higher education, Pat Dudgeon has also had significant involvement in psychology and Indigenous issues for many years. Pat was the first convenor of the Australian Psychological Society Interest Group, Aboriginal Issues, Aboriginal People and Psychology and has been instrumental in convening many conferences and discussion groups at National levels to ensure that Indigenous issues are part of the agenda in the discipline. She has many publications in this area and is considered one of the ‘founding’ people in Indigenous people and psychology

Pat is actively involved with the Aboriginal community and has a commitment to social justice for Indigenous people. Pat has participated in numerous community service activities, of significance, Pat was a member of the Parole Board of Western Australia for several years, and was a psychologist in the defence forces. Pat has many publications in the areas of psychology, education and women's issues.

Empowering Research With Indigenous Communities

This session discusses how Indigenous researchers can work with communities in ways that empower the Indigenous perspective. Using the process of publishing the Working With Indigenous People: A Handbook for Psychologists, Pat Dudgeon shares how working closely with the Indigenous community can be a enriching (and at times, frustrating) experience.

The Handbook was written in response to a need that the editors saw in their work with non-Indigenous psychologists and mental health professionals. At that time there was little resources in the area from an Indigenous perspective. Based on principles of social justice, inclusion (of Indigenous voices), reconciliation and good ethical practice, the Handbook took three years to assemble. Ironically, the very lessons of working sensitively with Indigenous communities were a real part of the process – the community’s priorities are not always the same as the researchers! While being an ‘insider’ gives the Indigenous researcher explicit and implicit understandings, participants and contributors need to be fully engaged and in control of the process.