Dr Sharon Huebner
PhD Monash University
ARC DECRA Research Fellow - National Centre for Indigenous Genomics, John Curtin School of Medical Research
ANU College of Health and Medicine
Areas of expertise
- Applied Ethics 5001
- Aboriginal And Torres Strait Islander Health And Wellbeing 4504
- Aboriginal And Torres Strait Islander Cultural Determinants Of Health 450404
- Aboriginal And Torres Strait Islander Social Determinants Of Health 450419
- Intangible Heritage 430208
- Digital Heritage 430204
- Screen And Digital Media 3605
- Heritage, Archive And Museum Studies 4302
- Other Indigenous Data, Methodologies And Global Indigenous Studies 4519
Research interests
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledge systems, ways of knowing, being and doing
Repatriation and conservation of heritage and intangible culture
Culture & Ethical, Legal and Social Implications (C+ELSI)
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander protocols, governance and practices of consent
Qualitative research & analysis
Film and podcast production, digital storytelling & animation
Social Anthropology (Photography & Oral Narratives)
Biography
Dr Sharon Huebner is a multi-disciplinary researcher in the complex spaces of relational collaborations, politics of agency, applied ethics and Indigenous principles, practices and governance. She is a recipient of an Australian Research Council (ARC), Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA) at the Australian National University 2022-24 and holds a PhD from Monash University, Australia, 2016. She is the author of 'No Longer a Wandering Spirit' 2023 with cultural contributions from Ezzard Flowers and Bryant family members.
ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8600-8972
UWA PUBLISHING - NEW BOOK
https://uwap.uwa.edu.au/products/no-longer-a-wandering-spirit
MEDIA:
Sunday 2nd at 1230 on 100.9 Arts Magazine, Great Southern FM &
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-04-15/menang-woman-bessy-flowers-life-story-reclaimed-by-her-family/102214652
Researcher's projects
LEAD INVESTIGATOR ARC DECRA (DE220101048) - 2022-24
- First Nations community-led approaches to Australian healthcare genomics
- This project aims to develop community-led approaches that address key barriers to First Nations inclusion in Australian healthcare genomics. It will focus on working with communities to evaluate, co-design, and implement culturally appropriate engagement strategies and ethical research practices, including relationship-based consent; cultural integration of genomics; and ethical strategies for long-term management and use of biological samples and data for clinical and research purposes. Expected outcomes of this project are policy recommendations, contributions to national ethics and protocols guidelines, and the evaluation of educational materials and digital learning tools aimed at improving genomics literacy and research practices.
- Program Name:Discovery
- Scheme Name:Discovery Early Career Researcher Award
CHIEF INVESTIGATOR (CII) NHMRC SYNERGY GRANT (2011277) - 2022-26
CONNECT - “Consortium for National Indigenous Genomics Capacity”
- Respecting the Gift - Empowering Indigenous Communities in Genomic Medicine
- Genomic and precision medicine represent a once in a generation step change in health and medical sciences. Elucidation of the human genome with high-throughput sequencing technologies has exposed the underlying biological architecture of human development and functioning. Yet diverse populations are not yet represented in, engaged with, nor do they have equitable access to the benefits of genomic research. This is particularly true for Indigenous Australians. While enhanced diversity within genomic datasets will not be enough to solve the major challenges faced by marginalised communities, it is a necessary step. We have established a multi-disciplinary national consortium of Indigenous researchers and their scientific and institutional allies to empower Indigenous leadership in genomics. We will develop a unique Indigenous genomics research and community engagement ecosystem across five innovative programs: 1) Empowering Communities, 2) data sciences, 3) understanding genomic and phenotypic variation across populations, 4) uncovering the multi-omic signatures of complex disease, and 5) translating genomics into health care. Underpinning these, our consortium will invest in capability development of an Indigenous genomics workforce, extend and deepen our national and international partnerships and define a pathway to maximising the benefits of genomics for Indigenous health and wellbeing. Working with Indigenous communities and health services, we will enable equitable, culturally safe and responsive access to the benefits of genomic medicine for all, establish reference genome(s) that will serve as the foundations of a precision health future for Indigenous Australians, further develop best-practice approaches to the leadership by Indigenous peoples of genomics research, policy development and health system reform. Our vision is to enshrine Indigenous peoples’ sovereign rights to define, lead and fulfil their own destiny in a rapidly changing genomics landscape.
- Program Name: National Health and Medical Research Council
- Scheme Name: Synergy Grant
- Project CIA: Prof. Alex Brown - https://www.anu.edu.au/news/all-news/empowering-indigenous-communities-in-genomics
CHIEF INVESTIGATOR (CIC) NHMRC IDEAS GRANT (APP2001173) - 2021-25
- Improving understandings of and responses to alcohol-related family violence for Aboriginal people
- Family violence (FV) and alcohol misuse have extremely detrimental effects on the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, contributing to a broad suite of acute and chronic physical and mental health disparities. Using mixed-methods, this research will provide substantive evidence on the associations between FV and alcohol misuse for Aboriginal populations at three field sites across Australia: 1. Kununurra (East Kimberley, Western Australia); 2. Brisbane (South East Queensland); and 3. Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands (APY Lands).Multi-sited ethnographic methods including participant observation, semi-structured ethnographic interviews and focus groups, will be combined with data-linkage and novel social network analytical techniques, to provide evidence to co-design precision public health (PPH) interventions and enhance in-place interventions at each site with our Aboriginal community partners. By incorporating cultural and social determinants of health and local priorities into the research design in collaboration with Aboriginal partner organisations with first-hand knowledge of alcohol-related family violence (ARFV) victims and their families, and linking data on family networks and local populations, the partner organisations in the three study sites will have enhanced capability to codesign robust interventions to reduce violence and overcome health inequities in vulnerable, at-risk groups.The Indigenous public health model of emotional and social well-being will inform the project while the highly localised collaboration will address the contributing factors in their social context rather than problematising individuals caught in the spiral of violence.
- Program Name: National Health and Medical Research Council
- Scheme Name: Ideas Grant
- Project CIA: Prof. Marcia Langton - https://mspgh.unimelb.edu.au/centres-institutes/centre-for-health-equity/research-group/indigenous-studies/research/alcohol-management-in-indigenous-communities/improving-understandings-of-and-responses-to-alcohol-related-family-violence-for-aboriginal-people
CHIEF INVESTIGATOR (CI) GENOMICS HEALTH FUTURES MISSION MRFF (2016124) -
2022-2026
- AUSTRALIAN ALLIANCE FOR INDIGENOUS GENOMICS (ALIGN)
- Pathways to benefit for Indigenous Australians in Genomic Medicine
- Australian National University led by Prof. Alex Brown - $4,986,948.70
- Indigenous populations are not yet appropriately represented in genomic research. We have assembled a national consortium of Indigenous researchers, health services, institutions and industry to empower Indigenous leadership in genomics with a focus on 1) Governance; 2) Data Systems and Sovereignty; 3) Genomics Policy; and 4) Indigenous Genomics Capacity Development. Our network will enable equitable, culturally safe and responsive access to the benefits of genomic medicine for all Australians
- CI's - Professor Alex Brown, Mrs Azure Hermes, Mr Gregory Pratt, Professor David Lynn, Doctor Kalinda Griffiths, Professor Marcel Dinger, Doctor James Breen, Associate Professor Jodie Ingles, Rebecca D'Souza, Doctor Yassine Souilmi, Doctor Kristen Nowak, Professor Julie McGaughran, Doctor Johanna Barclay, Doctor Shayne Bellingham, Professor Daniel MacArthur, Mr Glenn Pearson, Doctor Sharon Huebner, Professor Stephen Simpson, Professor Gareth Baynam, Doctor Nathan O'Callaghan, Associate Professor Odette Pearson, Ms Louise Lyons, Associate Professor Raymond Lovett, Professor David Thomas, Professor Jason Kovacic, Doctor Rebekah McWhirter, Doctor David Hansen, Professor Maree Toombs, Associate Professor Mark Wenitong, Doctor Simone Reynolds, Professor Ngiare Brown, Mr Boe Rambaldini, Professor Elina Hypponen, Professor Graham Mann, Doctor Shivashankar Hiriyur Nagaraj, Ms Kim Morey, Doctor Charlotte Slade, Doctor Hardip Patel, Doctor Karen Hawke, Professor Sarah Medland, Professor David James, Professor Jean Yang, Associate Professor Bastien Llamas, Associate Professor Misty Jenkins, Professor Clara Gaff, Doctor Vanessa Bryant, Doctor Timo Lassmann
- https://www.health.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/2022/09/medical-research-future-fund-mrff-grant-recipients-medical-research-future-fund-mrff-grant-recipients-as-at-20-september-2022.pdf
Current student projects
Rubi-Jayne Cohen
Doctor of Philosophy, John Curtin School of Medical Research, Australian National University
Title: Co-Developing guidelines to communicate genomic research to empower Indigenous Communities - 2022-2025
Supervisors: Dr Sharon Huebner, Assoc. Prof. Bastien Llamas & Dr Rebekah McWhirter
Indigenous Mentor: Azure Hermes, Deputy Director, National Centre for Indigenous Genomics, JCSMR
Joel Keen
Doctor of Philosophy, John Curtin School of Medical Research, Australian National University
Title: It will take a mental revolution to re-spark societal evolution - 2023-2026
Supervisors: Dr Sharon Huebner, Dr Andrew Whelan
Indigenous Mentor: Azure Hermes, Deputy Director, National Centre for Indigenous Genomics, JCSMR
Publications
- Stuchbery, C, Gosper, B, Huebner, S et al. 2022, Above and Beyond Broadcasting: a study of First Nations media and the Covid19 pandemic.
- Featherstone, D, Stuchbery, C, Huebner, S et al. 2021, 'Archiving First Nations Media: the race to save community media and cultural collections', Australian Aboriginal Studies, no. 1, pp. 53-68.
- Huebner, S & Flowers, E 2021, 'The Relational Language of First Nations Cultural Sensibilities, Principles and Storytelling Ethics as an Intercultural Approach to Script Development', in Stayci Taylor, Craig Batty (ed.), The Palgrave Handbook of Script Development, Springer Nature Switzerland AG, Switzerland, pp. 229-250.
- Huebner, S & Bradley, J 2020, ''They live on in the photos': the ontologies of difference when recognition is given to descendant family and kin concern for, and responsibility toward, ancestors in photographs', Visual Studies, vol. 36, no. 4-5, pp. 366-384.
- Prictor, M, Huebner, S, Teare, H et al. 2020, 'Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Collections of Genetic Heritage: The Legal, Ethical and Practical Considerations of a Dynamic Consent Approach to Decision Making', Journal of Law, Medicine and Ethics, vol. 48, no. 1, pp. 205-217.
- Huebner, S, Hermes, A & Easteal, S 2020, 'The Practice of Engaging Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities in Genome Research ', in George, L., Tauri, J. and MacDonald, L.T.A.o.T. (ed.), Indigenous Research Ethics: Claiming Research Sovereignty Beyond Deficit and the Colonial Legacy, Emerald Publishing, United Kingdom, pp. 109-123.
- Huebner, S & Marr, S 2019, 'Between Policy and Practice: Archival Descriptions, Digital Returns and a Place for Coalescing Narratives', Archives and Manuscripts, vol. 47, no. Issue 1: Special Issue , pp. 113-130.
- Thorner, S, Edmonds, F, Clarke, M et al. 2019, 'The Living Archive of Aboriginal Art: Maree Clarke and the Circulation of Photographs as Culture-Making', Mapping Meaning: The Journal, vol. Fall 2019, no. 3, pp. 38 - 63.
- Huebner, S & Flowers, E 2016, ''It's a resting place, where our ancestors go': Bringing back lost ancestor memories to Western Australia's Great Southern - Noongar boodja', Journal of Arts & Communities, vol. 8, no. 1-2, pp. 75-92.
- Ormond-Parker , L, Langton, M, Huebner, S et al. 2016, When Magnets Collide: Digital Preservation and Access of At-Risk Audiovisual Archives in a Remote Aboriginal Community, Melbourne Networked Society Institute.
- Huebner, S 2015, Nidjuuk, Niih, Kaatitjin, Look, Listen, Learn: Noongar and Koories interpreting the silences of a colonial archive.
- Huebner, S 2013, 'A digital community project for the recuperation, activation and emergence of Victorian Koorie knowledge, culture and identity', 2009 AIATSIS National Indigenous Studies Conference, AIATSIS Research Publications, Canberra, pp. 171 - 184.
- Huebner, S & Cooper, K 2007, 'Koorie Culture and Technology: A digital archive project for Victorian Koorie communities', Archives and Manuscripts, vol. 35, no. 1, pp. 18-32.
Projects and Grants
Grants information is drawn from ARIES. To add or update Projects or Grants information please contact your College Research Office.
- First Nations community-led approaches to Australian healthcare genomics (Primary Investigator)
- Respecting the Gift Empowering Indigenous Communities in Genomic Medicine (Secondary Investigator)
