Governance

The National Institute for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Research Limited (NIATSIHR Ltd) is a limited liability company trading as the Lowitja Institute. The NIATSIHR is registered as a not-for-profit company limited by guarantee and is structured as a public benevolent institution. The Lowitja Institute is independent of government and other centres of health and policy administration. It has:

• An independent Board, of whom are all members are Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people.
• At a Special General Meeting on 16 June 2020, the Lowitja Institute's constitution was changed to significantly expand its membership to include:

Full Member Organisations – Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations committed to the purpose and values of the Lowitja Institute, with voting rights

Associate Organisations – Non-Indigenous organisations committed to the purpose and values of the Lowitja Institute, no voting rights

Lowitja Institute Scholars (Alumni) – Lowitja Institute Scholarship recipients, past and present Alumni, no voting rights. This was further expanded in September 2021 to include Chief Investigators and/or team members of research funded by a Lowitja Institute grant.

This change in the constitution also resulted in the establishment of the Lowitja Institute Members Community.

• On 22 June 2022 the Board resolved to create a new category of membership comprising Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander individuals who demonstrate support for, and contribute to, the purpose and values of the Institute and who do not satisfy the eligibility criteria for admission as Lowitja Institute Scholars (Alumni) members, no voting rights.
• The Lowitja Institute Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health CRC (Lowitja Institute CRC), which was hosted and managed by the Lowitja Institute through to June 2019, worked with 22 Participant organisations.

More information

• Constitution of the National Institute for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Research Limited