Symposium celebrates desert research diversity

New channels of knowledge and ideas will flow from the 2022 Knowledge Intersections Symposium in Alice Springs to the wider central Australian region and beyond this week.

Co-hosted by Charles Darwin University (CDU), Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education (BIITE) and Desert Knowledge Research Institute (DKRI), the two-day Symposium showcases the diversity of desert country research.

This year’s Symposium theme, ‘Channels for a thriving desert’ explores past, present and future research projects in central Australia.

It provides a platform for researchers, as well as educators and local organisations to come together and exchange knowledge to advance learning and progress in the region.

To this end, the Symposium has a vital role in facilitating Red Centre research extension and highlights the region’s wide-ranging contribution to the Australian research sector.

The annual Symposium also has an important role in building the confidence and profile of early-career researchers and PhD students in providing a forum to present their work and research findings, in some instances, for the first time.

This year’s event will be complemented by a special edition of Ngoonjook: A Journal of Australian Indigenous Issues, which gives researchers who present at the Symposium the opportunity to publish their work in this peered-reviewed journal.

Celebrating the array of academic work being done on country, the program features three concurrent knowledge streams, with many presentations exploring First Nations research.

The fifth edition of the Symposium will be held at the Desert Knowledge Precinct on Tuesday, November 22 from 9am-7.30pm and Wednesday, November 23 from 9am-4.45pm.

Quote attributable to Charles Darwin University (CDU) Senior Education Lecturer Felicity McLure

“The Knowledge Intersections Symposium is a wonderful opportunity for researchers in the unique context of central Australia to come together, share their insights and findings, and to encourage and learn from each other.”

Quote attributable to Desert Knowledge Research Institute (DKRI) Executive Director Jimmy Cocking

“Desert Knowledge Research Institute is pleased to co-host the fifth edition of the Knowledge Intersections Symposium. It is central Australia’s own knowledge-sharing event that connects culture, research and people in an accessible and meaningful way.”

Quote attributable to Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education (BIITE) Associate Professor John Guenther

“The fifth Knowledge Intersections Symposium promises to be better than ever. Over two days, the Symposium will bring together a rich diversity of presenters who will share their insights and knowledge generated from and in central Australia, based around the theme – channels for a thriving desert.”