Event details
Please note that in-person allocation has now reached capacity. You’re welcome to join the waitlist and we’ll notify you when a spot becomes available.
Working together to heal Country – what does that look like in practice?
From restoring bushland affected by urbanisation and vegetation clearing to protecting culturally significant species, Indigenous-led research is shaping culturally grounded responses to many environmental challenges.
This National Reconciliation Week, explore new ways of working as Indigenous Knowledge and Western science come together to deliver co-designed research and training with real-world outcomes for Country (Boodja), and kin (Moort).
Hear from 2025 Premier’s Science Award’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Scientist of the Year, Professor Stephen van Leeuwen, and emerging Indigenous leaders, researchers, and educators from:
- The ARC Training Centre for Healing Country
- National Environmental Science Program’s Resilient Landscapes Hub (NESP), and
- Walking on Country Field School
This event will highlight how Indigenous Knowledge is being embedded in research and partnerships that foster respect, reciprocity, and a shared commitment to caring for Country.
Open to researchers, students, industry, and community, we invite you to learn from the lived experience and wisdom of Indigenous Australians—the first and enduring stewards of this land—and discover how their guidance can shape a more connected, respectful, and sustainable future for all.
Places are limited – register now to secure your spot.
Light refreshments will be provided.
If you can’t make it in person, you can join us online. Once you’ve registered, you’ll receive a confirmation email with the livestream link.
Date
Wednesday 3 June 2026
Time
5.00pm – 5.30pm: Registration & light refreshments
5.30pm – 7.00pm: Formal proceedings
7.00pm – 7.30pm: Networking & light refreshments
Location
The Lantern, Level 7
T.L. Robertson Library, Building 105
Curtin University
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Or online
Presenters & Panellists
Professor Stephen van Leeuwen
Professor Stephen van Leeuwen is a Wadandi Noongar leader and distinguished botanical ecologist who serves as Australia’s first Indigenous Chair of Biodiversity and Environmental Science at Curtin University and is the Director of the ARC Training Centre for Healing Country.
Professor van Leeuwen is a research scientist, senior manager and respected Indigenous leader with strong links to Country in the Busselton and Margaret River areas of south-west Western Australia building collaborative relationships with Traditional Owners and other land managers to co-deliver novel and enduring outcomes for biodiversity conservation, bio-cultural land management, and the stewardship of Country.
Mark Cowan
Mark Cowan is an ecologist at Curtin University with more than 30 years’ experience in biodiversity survey, fauna monitoring, conservation planning and ecological data systems. He has strong expertise in designing standardised monitoring methods, training resources and digital tools to support environmental management. He has been the lead research scientist for the Monitoring Country platform, designed to support First Nations land and sea Country managers and Rangers in environmental monitoring.
Emeritus Professor Simon Forrest
Emeritus Professor Simon Forrest was born and raised in Wadjuk country (Perth). He has connections to country at Goomalling (Balardong), Swan Valley (Wajuk), Mt Magnet (Badimaya) and Leonora (Wongutha). He trained as a primary school teacher and worked in schools in in Aboriginal communities and rural towns. He has also worked in the public sector in senior managerial positions in education and curriculum and Indigenous affairs policy and implementation.
Oliver Tester
Oliver Tester is a proud Noongar man and environmental scientist. He is currently the Manager of Indigenous Liaison with the Indigenous Stewardship, Biodiversity and Environment Group and the Lead of Cultural Capability and Capacity for ARC Training Centre for Healing Country at Curtin University. His work focuses on establishing collaborative research partnerships with Indigenous land management groups and integrating Traditional Ecological Knowledge with Western Science practices.
Oliver has a Master of Environmental Science specialising in land, soil and water management. He has held a pivotal role with the National Environmental Science Program (NESP), Resilient Landscapes Hub, as well as several positions within the Commonwealth. His aim is to identify Indigenous employment and training opportunities within environmental projects that focus on Indigenous community priorities and elevate Indigenous voices in policy making.
Zoe Webber
Zoe Webber is a PhD student at Curtin University with the ARC Centre for Healing Country, specialising in fire ecology and Banksia woodland restoration. Her PhD investigates the ecological effects of cultural burning, combining Western science practices such as flora surveys and soil science with Traditional Ecological Knowledge.
Zoe’s PhD focuses on supporting Elder-led cultural burns within the metropolitan region of Boorloo/Perth and assessing the ecological shifts in these bushland areas. Her PhD involves working with the Town of Victoria Park, leading a 12 month evaluation of the Town’s first urban bushland cultural burn initiative based at the Hill View Community Bushland.
Lailah Bellottie
Lailah Bellottie is a Malgana, Nhanda, Wardandi and Pibelmun woman who grew up in Geraldton, Western Australia. She is currently studying a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in Law and Society alongside Indigenous Knowledge, History and Heritage. Her focus is to complete her studies and help carve pathways for young people to remain grounded in Country. Lailah was fortunate to grow up surrounded by two strong families, with deep connections across both the North and South of Western Australia. She is also an Administrative Support Officer at the ARC Training Centre for Healing Country.
Professor Jonathan Bullen
Professor Jonathan Bullen is a Wardandi Noongar man from the south-west of WA. He is Deputy Vice Chancellor Indigenous, at Curtin University.
Professor Bullen’s research on the development of non-Indigenous health professional’s capabilities to effectively work with Indigenous Australians in health contexts has been instrumental in furthering a national conversation and has led to a range of national speaking invitations and committee memberships. In the last three years, he has attracted over $19 million as an investigator on national ARC, NHRMC and MRFF projects focused on Indigenous health and wellbeing.
Professor Gretchen Benedix
Professor Gretchen Benedix is the Associate Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Research at Curtin University. She is a cosmic mineralogist and astro-geologist using the chemistry, mineralogy, spectroscopy, and petrology of meteorites to understand the formation and evolution of asteroids and other planets.
She joined Curtin in 2012 and has held a number of research fellowships. She was awarded a Senior Curtin Research Fellowship in 2014. She held an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship from 2018 to 2021.
She is a member of the Space Science and Technology Centre in the School of Earth and Planetary Sciences.
Access
We are committed to making our events as accessible and inclusive as possible. Refer to our Access and Inclusion Guide for more information.
Contact us
To find out more about Research Rumble, contact the Research Engagement and Impact (EI) team.