In alignment with its “Customs, Cultures and Country” strategic priority, and with the support of the Maria Vasas Foundation, Queensland Museum has established its inaugural First Nations Undergraduate Student Summer Research Program. This museum-based research experience aims to create an avenue for First Nations undergraduate students to explore career pathways in the museum and cultural heritage sector.
Led by Dr Bianca Beetson (Queensland Museum Director, First Nations) and the First Nations team, the program will provide students with an introduction to museum-based research, curation and storytelling.
The six-week research program will take place from 13 January to 21 February 2025, commencing with an Orientation Day on Tuesday 14 January 2025. Students will undertake a research project across this time in addition to workshops and cultural activities.
The program will conclude with a symposium at QM where students will share their research.
The First Nations Undergraduate Student Summer Research Program is open to Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander undergraduate students from any discipline.
Students accepted to the program will receive a stipend of $4,000 (paid in fortnightly instalments). Income tax and superannuation may apply.
Applications are to be submitted via an Expression of Interest and due by 11:59pm on Monday 18 November 2024.
The Summer Research Program will commence with an Orientation day on Tuesday 14 January 2025 and offer students the opportunity to meet each other, the First Nations team, key Queensland Museum staff, and their project supervisor/s and learn more about the Program. The day will include information and in-conversations sessions, and discuss broader research access opportunities within the South Bank cultural precinct.
Students will also commence their research projects in the week beginning 13 January 2025. It is expected research projects will take six weeks to complete with students committing at least two and a half days per week (18 hours) to undertake their project. The student’s research hours, meetings and how the student works (online/onsite) will be determined between the student and their supervisor/s.
In addition to their research project, students will be required to attend weekly workshops (approximately half a day per week). Workshops will be a combination of research development and cultural activities and predominantly held onsite at Queensland Museum Kurilpa, South Bank.
At the conclusion of the six-week program students will present their research in a Symposium attended by their research program peers, family, friends, Queensland Museum staff and key partners. The event will be held at Queensland Museum Kurilpa.
The First Nations Undergraduate Student Summer Research Program experience will include:
Applications are accepted from Australian citizens or permanent residents over the age of 18 who are of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander heritage, identify as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander and are accepted as such by the community in which they live or have lived.
You may reside anywhere in Australia, however note there are compulsory onsite program components including the Orientation Day, weekly half day workshops and final symposium which you will be required to attend in-person.
You must be currently enrolled in an undergraduate degree at a Queensland-based university. Students may be enrolled in any discipline. The research project selected does not need to be directly related to your area of study.
Yes. A series of broad research projects are listed on the Expression of Interest form.
Your supervisor will work with you to refine your research project whereby it can be completed within the program's six-week timeframe.
Application for the program is via completion of an Expression of Interest form on the Queensland Museum website.
You will be asked to provide:
You will be asked to nominate an area of interest within the Museum to undertake your research project.
Expressions of interest close at 11:59pm on Monday, 18 November 2024.
Late submissions will not be accepted.
The assessment process includes:
Queensland Museum reserves the right not to award all research places if suitable Expressions of Interest are not received.
Depending on the number of Expressions of Interest received, the Assessment Panel may ask you to attend an interview if they need more information about your application.
Yes, all students who submit an Expression of Interest will be notified about the outcome of their application via email by early December 2024.
The program will commence with attendance at the Orientation Day on Tuesday, 14 January 2025.
No. The Summer Research Program is an extracurricular research experience and cannot be counted towards course credit.
Students will receive a stipend of $4,000. Income tax and superannuation may apply.
If successful, you will be paid in fortnightly instalments across the six weeks. It is important to note income tax provisions may apply.
Yes, however we encourage you to check the requirements of any scholarship you hold to ensure you do not breach their requirements.
Queensland Museum cannot provide financial and/or tax advice to students. Should you have any financial or tax-based questions about accepting a place in the First Nations Undergraduate Student Summer Research Program, please contact a finance professional.
Queensland Museum is offering a range of research projects within the Summer Research Program suitable to different student interests and disciplines. Discover more about the projects below.
If you have any questions about the projects or the program, please feel welcome to contact the Program Coordinator, Bronwyn Wolski.
The Future Makers team develops and provides a range of hands-on object-based curriculum-linked classroom activities to support teachers to deliver valuable STEM (Science Technology Engineering Mathematics) experiences to students across Queensland. These are available in hard copy and on the Queensland Museum Learning Platform.
This research project provides an opportunity for these activities to be expanded upon with deeper connection to Queensland Museum stories, research, collections, as well as additional activities to enhance STEM learning and object-based learning.
As a research project, students will explore the Learning Platform, search for STEM topics that are of interest to them and find an activity they would like to enhance.
Queensland Museum’s Wild State gallery takes visitors through five breathtaking environments – the arid outback, iconic eucalypt forest, tropical rainforest, sun-drenched coastal zones and teeming marine environments. The gallery highlights the extreme beauty, yet fragile state of each environment. It explores how we, the human race, need to protect and preserve our precious natural world for future generations.
In this research project, the student will identify one or two animals in Wild State and undertake research into Indigenous Knowledges connected to those animals, which may include language, song, dance, stories, kinship systems, totems etc. It is intended the information collected will be incorporated into the display and as part of Queensland Museum's Daily Highlights Tour.
This research project will introduce the student to working with, and caring for, Aboriginal material culture through hands-on learning activities and applied collection management theory.
Governed by national benchmark museum standards; changes in collection housing methods; and advancement in collection materials technology, the collection storage upgrade project, will improve the current standard of housing of the Aboriginal club collection bringing it up to industry benchmark standards.
The research project will involve the rehousing of 840 (approx.) Aboriginal clubs. Project work activities will include inventorying; collating and sorting (locality of origin); making custom-made trays/supports; boxing; photographing; and recording object location changes in the Museum's collection database.
Project outcomes will include:
This project involves conducting in-depth provenance research on an Aboriginal breastplate, a significant cultural item with historical and social importance.
Provenance research is often the first step in determining the community of origin for an ancestor or object so they can be repatriated to their traditional custodians. The student will utilise archival materials to investigate the item's origins, creation, removal, and movement through private collections and/or institutions. This research can then be used to inform a community's decision-making process during repatriation, particularly in determining who should be involved and the cultural practices and protocols to be followed during the repatriation process.
As conservators we are interested in the techniques and materials used to weave baskets and bags. Due to the fragile nature of many fibres and their susceptibility to both physical and pest damage, we are interested in developing methods for appropriately caring for woven works in the QM collection.
A research project exploring the conservation of woven fibre works could include an exploration of the different weave types, fibre types, dyes and embellishments. The ways in which other institutions look after their fibre collections could be explored, and treatment options examined.
Queensland Museum's Partnerships team is responsible for sponsorships, partnerships and stakeholder relationship management that support Queensland Museum's revenue generation targets and drive investment in programs of strategic priority across the organisation.
This social impact analysis research project will review and analyse data collected over the last 10 years relating to the impacts and outcomes of Queensland Museum's collaboration with corporate and academic partners. At the conclusion of the project the research will provide a snapshot of the impact and scale of the work undertaken at Queensland Museum due to partner investment.
The Stan Colliver Archives is stored in the Research Library and is comprised of 23 boxes and 42 folders. The material was bequeathed in 1999 and spans the 1830s-1980s. The archives contain publications on First Nations language, loose news cuttings, typed and written manuscripts, photographs, pamphlets (e.g. pamphlets on Australian Aborigines: Rights, Citizenship, Assimilation), single journal issues, letters and meeting reports.
The project will require description of the contents, identifying the material particularly relevant to First Nations with the intent to digitise and/or rehouse appropriately. Part of the project will require updating catalogue records within the Library Management System.
This project requires a student to produce a statement of significance which addresses the historic/social significance, provenance, aesthetic, condition, interpretive capacity and other collection identifiers of the pieces.
With some of the pottery pieces in the Collection relating to Joh & Flo Bjelke-Petersen, there may be potential for the line of research to investigate policies of the Bjelke-Petersen government at the time and to the history of Cherbourg itself and what the Barambah Pottery meant to the community.
The project provides students with insight into the Curatorial process.
The recently launched Say Our Name: Australian South Sea Islanders exhibition explores the relatively unknown histories and lived experiences of Australia's South Sea Islander community.
Working with the exhibition curators, the student will research and write a series of blogs further highlighting elements of the collection and Australian South Sea Islander stories.
Recognising and embracing diversity in the workplace fosters a sense of value among staff for their unique qualities, ideas, and perspectives. This commitment extends to acknowledging that employees may wish to observe culturally significant or religious days and events throughout the year.
In this project, the student will research best practices for cultural leave policies, processes, and strategies; benchmark cultural leave initiatives implemented by government and cultural institutions across Australia; and develop a tailored cultural leave approach for Queensland Museum.
Expressions of interest close 11:59pm Monday 18 November 2024. Before submitting your application, please read the information about the Research Program, including frequently asked questions.
In addition to the form, you will need to upload the following documents:
Late applications will not be accepted.
Queensland Museum commits to ensuring representation and respectfully showcasing the contributions and stories of Aboriginal Peoples and Torres Strait Islanders through our research, exhibitions and programming.
Building community awareness, and presenting authentic, inspiring stories that sets the scene in Queensland for reflection, truth-telling and celebration.
Find out more about some of our long-term Collections & Research projects.