About
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Lowitja Institute is Australia’s only national Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community controlled health research institute named in honour of its Patron, Dr Lowitja O’Donoghue AC CBE DSG.
It is an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community controlled organisation working for the health and wellbeing of Australia's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples through high impact quality research, knowledge exchange, and by supporting a new generation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health researchers.
Established in January 2010, the Lowitja Institute operates on key principles of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leadership, a broader understanding of health that incorporates wellbeing, and the need for the work to have a clear and positive impact.
In 2020, Lowitja Institute became a community controlled organisation and established a membership base, led by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander representatives. As a community controlled organisation, we focus on supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community controlled organisations and researchers. Watch this video on Lowitja Institute becoming a community controlled organisation.
The history of the Lowitja Institute dates back to 1997 when the first Cooperative Research Centre for Aboriginal and Tropical Health was established. Since then, the Institute and the CRC organisations have led a substantial reform agenda in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health research by working with communities, researchers and policymakers, with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people setting the agenda and driving the outcomes.
Until 30 June 2019, Institute hosted the Lowitja Institute Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health CRC (Lowitja Institute CRC), funded by the Australian Government Cooperative Research Centres (CRC) Programme. The history of the Lowitja Institute CRC dates back to 1997 when the first CRC for Aboriginal and Tropical Health was established.
See our annual reports and our history . The Institute's office is in Melbourne. For more information, please contact us
The video below Good decisions grow from great research explains the work of the Lowitja Institute for the health and wellbeing of Australia's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.