Indigenous Knowledge and Respectful Design: An Evidence-Based Approach

Norman W. Sheehan has taught and conducted research in Australian Aboriginal communities since 1979. Among these research achievements are an Australian Research Council Discovery project that investigated Indigenous Knowledge Research methodologies and a Postdoctoral Fellowship in Social and Emotional Well-being in the Discipline of Psychiatry at the University of Queensland. In 2009, Norm was awarded the National Aboriginal & Islander Day Observance Committee Excellence Award for the contribution his teaching and scholarship has made to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. He is currently conducting the Sustaining Connections research project in partnership with Link Up Queensland. This relational research conveys the meaning and significance of cultural, social and environmental connections through visual design and ceremonial and narrative processes to activate healing conversations among participant communities.