Rhonda Marriott

My name is Rhonda Marriott.

I'm a professor and the Pro Vice-Chancellor for the Nyankira Institute for Change.

I was awarded the Premier Science Award for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Scientist of the Year.

Congratulations!

I'm still getting over it.

What did they say was the reason for your selection?

for all the work that we have done working with Aboriginal families, in particular my work, which has been with Aboriginal mothers and in the early childhood, particularly in the perinatal period, and the leadership that I provide to the Nyankira Institute for Change.

Oh, absolutely.

I've been asked this question actually a number of times.

Why Scientist of the Year?

Is the work that you're doing science?

Because everyone automatically thinks about pure science that somebody does in a laboratory.

And I talk about translational research and the science of implementation science that underpins that work.

And the science that goes behind co-design when we work with Aboriginal communities, we are not bringing our thoughts only to the table and our lens only to the table, which for me is an Aboriginal woman born in Derby, descendant of Ngina people,

But I am working on Noongar country, so I respect that there are Noongar people who we work with who will bring their own lens.

And it will be probably different or sometimes the same as mine.

But the work that we do is really important around Aboriginal families.

If we can work in a way that provides the strongest start in life, that is based around robust research that not only we have done, but others have done, in a way that is translating that research into an accessible way in practice for practitioners to work with our Aboriginal families in a way that empowers mums, then I'm driven to do it.

I'm not only an Aboriginal mum, but I'm also very aware of my culture, very aware of our kinship and supports.

but I'm also a midwife, so I bring that lens as well of knowing what a practitioner thinks.