On 22nd October 2024, Woolyungah Indigenous Centre (WIC) held an Employment Pathways session on campus aiming to grow Indigenous students’ interests and aspirations in becoming an academic. The event was an informational yarning session directed at high-achieving Indigenous students who were interested in pursuing careers in academia. Eight students attended the event and had the opportunity to hear the stories, insights, and guidance on the many different pathways to becoming an academic from our very own Indigenous staff here at UOW.
We had four Indigenous UOW staff members come into WIC and introduce themselves, their field of study and their journeys and experiences entering and working in their sector of academia. Our speakers also detailed the different limitations and barriers academics face—especially Indigenous academics—and how to navigate these spaces and issues if they happen to arise in the future. We ended this aspirational session with our speakers giving their best advice to our Indigenous students looking to follow in academic careers and pathways.
After the yarning session, students were encouraged to stick around for lunch and yarn further with our academic staff. It was a great chance to ask any and all extra questions we had about academia and becoming an academic.