Mr Michael Watkins
Lecturer, Aboriginal Allied Health
Department of Rural Health
College of Health
Michael holds the role of Lecturer: Aboriginal Allied Health within Adelaide Univrsity Rural Health, College of Health. His teaching focusses on developing the cultural capabilities of Nursing and Allied Health student, and research focussing on the cultural outcomes of engaging with bush foods and traditional knowledges.
Michael has a background in rural and remote health practice, teaching and learning in higher education and nutrition and food sciences. He also has a keen interest in developing Aboriginal health curricula and placement opporutnities in Aboriginal health settings.
CIA: MRFF Indigenous Health Research Grant "Bush foods and traditional food practices to facilitate health and wellbeing, cultural connections, nutritional knowledges for Aboriginal young people living in regional South Australia”
Chief Investigator: Establishing and sharing the narrative on Australian native plant foods for Aboriginal people [ESCULENT Study].
| Year | Citation |
|---|---|
| 2026 | Watkins, M., Kelly, C., Green, C., Bay, S., Minahan, G., Sangelaji, B., & Thompson, S. C. (2026). Indigenous Culture and Health in UDRH Research: An Indigenous-Led Narrative Review. Australian Journal of Rural Health, 34(2), 30 pages. |
| 2026 | McPherson, K., Barradell, S., Li, K., Watkins, M., & Phillips, A. (2026). Towards a Sustainable Future: Embedding Planetary Health in Allied Health Professional Education Through the Lens of Indigenous Knowledges.. Health Promot J Austr, 37(3), e70195. Scopus1 Europe PMC1 |
| 2024 | Mortimer Royle, E., Webb, S., McLinton, S., Clark, Y. L., & Watkins, M. (2024). Pride and prejudice: what influences Australians' attitudes toward changing the date of Australia Day?. Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy, 24(3), 777-802. Scopus2 WoS1 |
| 2024 | Watkins, M., Marsh, B., & Cornelius Bell, A. (2024). Centring Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voices and ways of knowing, being and becoming in fully online undergraduate health course curriculum development. Canadian Journal of Educational and Social Studies, 4(6), 74-88. |
NHMRC (National Health and Medical Research Council):
2022: MRFF Indigenous Health Research Grant submitted as CIA, “Bush foods and traditional food practices to facilitate health and wellbeing, cultural connections, nutritional knowledges for Aboriginal young people living in regional South Australia”. $550,000
2022: Associate Investigator: MRFF Dementia Ageing and Aged Care Mission grant “Connecting aged care, health care and social services systems to support older Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to live their best lives”.
Teaching grants:
2020 CIA: Experiences of Aboriginal staff and Aboriginal health curricula within health sciences in higher education, HERDSA Roger Landbeck PD Fund to undertake the research. $5,000
State Government:
2021: Wellbeing South Australia Healthy Towns Challenge, project title: Establishing and growing an Aboriginal-led bush foods garden to facilitate culture and health benefits. $50,000
Local Government:
2019: Whyalla City Council grant, Community Native Food Garden, in partnership with local Aboriginal community to build the Bush Foods Garden $5000
Industry funding:
2020: Evaluation of the Aboriginal disAbility Alliance (AAA) project, South Australian West Coast ACCHO Network (SAWCAN) - $31,818
University grants:
2025 CIA: Exploring placement experiences for cultural safe, ethical and experiential work integrated learning in collaboration with Aboriginal communities. UniSA Aboriginal Research Strategy Seed funding $17,400
2023: UniSA Aboriginal Research Strategy Seed funding, project title: Characterisation of the chemical and biological activities of Kakadu plum leaves to support Aboriginal-led enterprise development (Northern Australia Aboriginal Kakadu Plum Alliance) $24,973
2022-2023 CIA: Developing an evaluation framework and bush foods cultural program for the Bush Foods Cultural and Foods Based Activities project in Rural South Australia. UniSA Aboriginal Research Strategy Seed funding $17,400
2022-2023: Scoping paper into the supply chain framework of the bush tucker food industry specifically relating to logistics, ICT, infrastructure, and skills development. UniSA Aboriginal Research seed funding
$5,000
2019 CIA: Establishing and sharing the narrative on Australian native plant foods for Aboriginal people (ESCULENT Study). UniSA RTIS seed funding $39,890
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