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Lowitja Institute Research Agenda themes are developed through a collective process of bringing together a range of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander stakeholders from the research, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community control and health sectors, as they are grounded in current and priority needs.
Lowitja Institute’s Research Agenda 2019–2023 aims to achieve positive health and wellbeing benefits for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples through empowerment, sovereignty and connectedness.
The 2019–2023 Research Agenda focuses on four key themes:
1. Empowerment – This theme seeks to address the ways that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples can take responsibility for, and control of their everyday lives to support decision making and behaviour change that contribute to self-determination and social transformation.
2. Sovereignty – This theme seeks to address the ways that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples can celebrate and improve sovereignty over their health and wellbeing. This can be interpreted as concepts such as agency and control, access to services, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leadership.
3. Connectedness – This theme seeks to address Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ relationship and belonging to environment and country for strong health and wellbeing and the way belonging, environment and country is reflected and strengthened through knowledge translation.
4. Cultural safety and respectful systems – This theme seeks to address the ways that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ unique physical, mental, social, spiritual and cultural needs are embedded at all levels of healthcare, from policy development and implementation to health service management and delivery, research and education and training to improve health system quality and safety.