Winter is all about football for Colleen Hayward. She’s a big football fan, more specifically, a Fremantle Dockers fan! And whilst they are still a young club and have only made the finals once, Colleen has high hopes for their future.
“One day the Dockers really will win the flag!” she says.
Her positive outlook for her beloved team, is also reflected in her working life.
Since 2004, Colleen has managed the Institute’s Kulunga Research Network, which focuses on research, capacity building, information dissemination, and advocacy.
Colleen says Kulunga was borne from an idea that acknowledged the need for the Institute to relate positively to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, especially in the context of the Institute placing such a high priority on research that improves the life circumstances of Indigenous people.
“My role is to lead the realisation of that agenda. We cannot do that without building the capacity of Indigenous people and communities as well as the people - Indigenous and non-Indigenous - who work with them, including in research endeavours.”
Kulunga has grown significantly under Colleen’s guidance and now has a varied research agenda comprising as many as 20 projects at any one time. Colleen is involved in all aspects of Kulunga’s operations from managing corporate partnerships and attracting research funds to facilitating capacity building as well as direct research involvement.
“Three and a half years ago, when I commenced with Kulunga, I had a team of only three people and only one contract - we had to be underwritten by the Institute to enable us to run,” Colleen explains.
“Now we have some twenty projects, have been highly successful in all our research projects, are well known with a reputation that serves to broaden our opportunities, have a staff of 15 including two cadets, and are recruiting even more staff. Our relationships with stakeholders are very positive and our future becomes more and more secure every day.
“None of us can underestimate the difference the Institute makes in our ability to undertake the work we do. That we have such fantastic support from all quarters - starting at the very top - enables us all to not only succeed but to excel.”
Colleen started her working life as a primary school teacher but has also worked in industrial relations, human resource management and policy and program development and implementation. This has been across the full spectrum of Indigenous needs including health, education, training, housing, employment and law and justice.
Colleen is combining her extensive experience with the desire and need to make a difference.
“With the current disparity in outcomes for Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians, I come to work every day knowing that everything we do makes a difference - a positive impact,” she says.
“I’m passionate about making a difference in all aspects of my life. In terms of Kulunga’s research agenda, it goes way beyond the research to enabling research to have meaning to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community.
“No matter the research focus, we have to be able to translate research findings in a way that is understood by the people whose story is being told – and in a way that empowers them.”
In order to make this happen, Colleen says of immediate and ongoing priority is the building of capacity in research.
“Recruiting and training more staff is an immediate priority as is expanding our field of endeavour into the training and health promotion arenas.
“In the longer-term, my priorities take on board other elements associated with the building of capacity within Kulunga specifically and across the Institute more generally, such as securing more senior staff to assist in building our track record in terms of peer-reviewed publications and securing competitive grants.”
Colleen would also like there to be a greater understanding of the need for communication and translation so research is not at a distance from the human element.
Apart from football, Colleen also loves gardening and home renovations, which seem to be never-ending, as well as spending lots of time with family and friends.
Last updated 17 June 2008
