Niina marni, ngai nari Aidan Cornelius-Bell (he/they). Higher education demands a belonging: a tangible centring of its values, beliefs, and knowledges. These knowledges, in no small part due to racism, sexism, and empire, are dominant and non-representative of the diversity of humanity. I am part of higher education to challenge and transform this status quo – to, with colleagues and communities, (re)think. Most of us never agreed to this system’s function or form. More of us are excluded from these conversations every day, and we are losing opportunities for systemic transformation for the benefit of all. I believe we need to find, or create, space for collective and collaborative liberation.
Aidan is an award-winning Senior Lecturer with the University of South Australia, currently on secondment to Adelaide University as academic lead for the Indigenisation of Curriculum and First Nations Common Core projects. He also holds academic status with Charles Darwin University. His research spans higher education, cultural studies, and political philosophy, focusing on decolonial approaches that challenge hegemonic social relations. As an Arrernte descendant, Aidan co-created UniSA’s Aboriginal Curriculum and Pedagogy process, bringing lived experience to this work. Aidan also supervises PhD students whose work aims for fundamental social transformation. My values – compassion, justice, genuine equity, and radical social change – guide my advocacy for co-designed thinking that disrupts capitalist realism. My work takes place on the unceded Country of the Kaurna Miyurna, where I remain a respectful guest.