<p style="text-align:center"><em><span style="font-size:12px">Left to Right: Prof Wilson, Amohia and Heather make last minute changes to their presentation.</span></em></p>

<p>Drs Heather Gifford and Amohia Boulton recently spent four days in Melbourne attending the Lowitja Institute International Indigenous Health and Wellbeing Conference. While there, they co-presented a paper with two of Whakauae&rsquo;s research partners, Prof Denise Wilson of Taupua Waiora, AUT University and Tanya Allport of Wai Research.</p>

<p>The conference was formed around the three themes of Identity, Knowledge and Strength. Conference highlights included a welcome to country by the traditional owners, the Kulin Nation; a performance by the famous Aboriginal musician Uncle Archie Roach and one by the Dhungala Children&rsquo;s Choir, as well as amazing keynote speakers Moana Jackson and Karina Walters and a moving presentation regarding Canada&rsquo;s reconciliation process from Chief Wilton Littlechild.</p>

<p>In our panel presentation, entitled &ldquo;Reclaiming and Transforming Research and Practice&rdquo; we showcased each of our respective research centres as sites of Indigenous knowledge reclamation. All three centres have a focus on M&#257;ori health and wellbeing but each has emerged from a very different pathway. Whakauae Research is a tribally owned research centre located in a small town in NZ, Taupua Waiora is a M&#257;ori research centre located at Auckland University of Technology and WAI Research is part of a large urban M&#257;ori health provider in West Auckland; Te Wh&#257;nau o Waipareira Trust.</p>

<p>Heather, Prof Wilson, and Tanya described the origins of their respective centres, their victories and the challenges they have faced and how their centres are contributing to shaping the research agenda for M&#257;ori health. After their individual presentations, Amohia, in the role of discussant drew together the themes common across all three presentations and linked these to the three overarching conference themes. The presentation provided stories of innovation, courage, stamina and excellence in Indigenous research, illustrating examples of how indigenous research centres may be constructed in a number of ways.</p>

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<p><img alt="The panel presenting at Lowitja Conference" src="/uploads/images/The-panel-presenting-at-Lowitja-Conference.jpg" style="height:488px; width:650px" /></p>

<p style="text-align:center"><em><span style="font-size:12px">The panel presenting at Lowitja Conference</span></em></p>

<p>In addition to our own presentation we also spent time networking, progressing project work (in particular recruiting for the STEPs project), and assisting the NZ members of the conference secretariat. One specific piece of work we contributed to was the drafting of the Lowitja Conference Statement. We worked alongside a small team of researchers and academics drawn from across the conference participants, and under the guidance of Romlie Mokak, the CEO of the Lowitja Institute to produce the statement, which was then endorsed by conference goers on the final day of the conference. The conference statement is a call to action on the part of individuals, communities, organisations and governments alike to support Indigenous peoples in their self-determination efforts. <a href="http://www.lowitjaconf2016.org.au/statement/" target="_blank">This statement can be found here:</a></p>

<p><a href="http://www.lowitjaconf2016.org.au/statement/" target="_blank">www.lowitjaconf2016.org.au/statement</a></p>

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