The Kungullanji Program: Creating an Undergraduate Research Experience to Raise Aspirations of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Students in the Sciences

Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities face complex challenges that require Indigenous-led research. Increasing the Indigenous research workforce depends on structural change within higher education institutions, including better pathways to research training and careers for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students. Undergraduate research experiences can improve student success and encourage more students to progress to research programs and careers. The Kungullanji Summer Research Program offers research experiences for Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander undergraduates while recognizing their contributions to research. The Kungullanji program approach is a strengths-based research training framework that recognizes existing ability outside of institutional definitions of success and adapts to student needs with multi-layered support. The initial results suggest that this approach increases students’ self-confidence and interest in conducting research.