Dr Kathleen Butler

Biography

Kathleen Butler is an Indigenous early career researcher, whose research interests centre on the inclusion of Indigenous knowledges in the academy, with an intertwined focus on Indigenising curriculum and Indigenous RHD participation. Mentored by Prof. Allyson Holbrook in 2009-10, Butler received grants totaling $80,000, including a mentorship grant, two ECR grants, a Teaching and Learning Fellowship and Faculty funding as part of Holbrooks project Adaptive Knowledge Production. These grants, in particular Australian Universities as a site of Aboriginal Identity Construction and Innovative or Orthodox: Research Methodologies in Indigenous Doctoral Theses at the University of Newcastle 2000-2009 have enabled Butler to have a solid foundation to pursue her future research. In 2009 Butler also extended the practical application of her research as the Team Leader of the University Indigenisation of Curriculum Working Party, presenting a refereed conference paper the Australian Universities Quality Forum on the University future directions. She is currently implementing these plans, while on secondment as a Senior Lecturer, Indigenous Curriculum Design and Development. She reviewed an article for the forthcoming journal Equity and Excellence in Education and is currently editing the Identity strand of the 2009 AIATSIS conference papers.

Qualifications

• PhD, University of Newcastle, 2009
• Master of Social Science, University of Newcastle, 1996
• Bachelor of Social Science, University of Newcastle, 1993

Research

Research keywords

• Aboriginal Studies
• sociology

Research expertise

• Sociology

Collaboration

Butler's research interests centre on Indigneous knowledges and their application within the tertiary sector. Butler has a limited number of publications, two are from high-ranking journals. She was the first Aboriginal presenter at a Philosophy of Education Society Australasia conference and the first to publish in their Journal of Educational Philosophy and Theory. Her article in the Journal of Sociology (2006), drawn from her PhD thesis, Teaching an Indigenous Sociology: A response to current debate in Australian sociology responded to the impetus in Australian sociology to redress its historical lack of engagement with Indigenous issues and peoples. Her current research is focussing on Indigenisation of curriculum and Indigenous Research Higher Degree participation.

Fields of Research

Centres and Groups

Centre

• Centre for the Study of Research Training and Impact (SORTI)

Group

• Group for Religious and Intellectual Traditions

Teaching

Teaching keywords

• Aboriginal Studies
• Anthropology
• Sociology,