Empowering Indigenous voices: Simone Sherriff's journey of community, co-creation and collaboration

The bells of the University of Sydney’s carillon chime as graduates stream out of the Great Hall. Among them, Dr Simone Sherriff (GradDipIndigHProm ’13, MPH ’17, PhD ’24), a proud Wotjobaluk woman whose family are from the Wimmera region of north‑west Victoria, walks onto the Quadrangle greens with her testamur in hand and her family, friends and mentors by her side. Simone didn’t always know she wanted to be a researcher. She started her career as an apprentice chef before stumbling upon a job advertisement for a research officer position in the Study of Environment on Aboriginal Resilience and Child Health (SEARCH) – an Indigenous‑led and owned initiative dedicated to redefining research.

“In communities, ‘research’ can be a bit of a dirty word,” Simone admits. Historically, studies on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities were exploitative and invasive, conducted in institutions that barred entry to Aboriginal people up until the 1960s and continued to exclude them from research practice until recent years.

Hesitant but intrigued, she applied for the role. “If Aboriginal people can have ownership and control over how we do our research, it can be empowering for us. Seeing how our research could be translated into programs and services that could have tangible benefits for community really inspired me.”

This marked the beginning of Simone’s longstanding dedication to reclaiming research practice through a process called ‘co‑creation’. The collective aim is to centre Indigenous voices and knowledges, previously disregarded in colonial research practice, working alongside participants as active agents rather than recipients.

“I think research across the University – not just in Aboriginal health – can learn from co‑creation. It’s very difficult for research to share power, but I think when we work closely with community, the research is richer and more likely to be responsive to our people’s needs,” Simone explains.

The SEARCH experience was pivotal in Simone’s decision to enrol at university – she was the first in her family to do so. Backed by her colleagues and community, she began her academic journey with the Graduate Diploma of Indigenous Health Promotion (GDIHP), swiftly followed by a Master of Public Health. “The graduate diploma really helped support my transition into university life and studying. Without such a nurturing and culturally safe group, I wouldn’t have succeeded at university,” she reflects.

Simone knew she wanted to continue studying when her research interests shifted to address food insecurity faced by Aboriginal families. “At the time, I didn’t really know what a PhD was,” Simone laughs. Now balancing raising a young child and multiple research projects, she set her sights on scholarship opportunities.

A fortuitously‑timed email to colleagues at the Charles Perkins Centre (CPC) pointed Simone to the Turner PhD Scholarship, which aligned perfectly with her research interests.

The scholarship was established through the generosity of Margaret Turner (MHS ’94, BA ’21). A retired physiotherapist and long‑time Francophile, Margaret had recently returned to university to continue studying French language and literature. Following a tour of the CPC, Margaret was stirred by the financial barriers facing early-career researchers.

When Simone received the news that she was the recipient of the Turner PhD Scholarship, she was deeply moved. “The scholarship changed my life, but also changed the lives of my family and community,” she says, beaming. “I hope to be a role model for my children and other young people in my community.”

Core to Simone’s PhD project was the practice that first sparked her interest: co‑creation. Her thesis, Dalki Garringa (‘Good growing’ in Wergaia), focused on building evidence with Aboriginal families to improve food security and the healthy growth of children across Australia. Her findings demonstrated that 96 percent of Aboriginal households in NSW are food insecure – or struggling to afford enough food – causing a cascade of other health concerns. In this project, Simone looked at the prevalence and protective factors for healthy weight status in Aboriginal children and led the development of a food planning tool to assist communities in discussing food security.

Upon completing her PhD project, Simone was appointed the inaugural research fellow at the Poche Centre for Indigenous Health – a flagship centre established through the transformative philanthropy of Greg Poche AO and the late Kay Van Norton Poche AO. Motivated by research excellence and improving health outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, Greg and Kay’s visionary gift has created a pathway for First Nations researchers and fostered connections between universities nationwide.

Simone’s current priority is Yalbilinya miya (‘learn together’ in Wiradjuri), a breastfeeding pilot program, designed by and for Aboriginal women. As research fellow, Simone leads this collaboration between the Riverina Medical and Dental Aboriginal Corporation, the Poche Centre, Lowitja and Sax Institutes.

“For 65,000 years, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women have nurtured and sustained our babies through breastfeeding for up to four years of the baby’s life. We now know that the breastfeeding period has been reduced to anywhere between a couple of days to a couple of weeks,” she explains.

Research has shown that the lack of culturally safe breastfeeding support has led many women to bottle feed. Working closely with women and Elders, Simone is co‑creating educational resources such as videos to share with the community. In just a few short months, the program has been met with resoundingly positive feedback and requests from communities across NSW to share these tools.

The Poche Centre is keen to upscale Simone’s project to continue empowering community through co‑creation. Stops along Simone’s academic journey – from the GDIHP, through her PhD to becoming a research fellow – have been touched by the support of like‑minded individuals who believe in the power of Indigenous‑led research and indeed, in Simone. These champions have cleared a path for her and other aspiring researchers at the University of Sydney to empower Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, transform policy, and enhance existing practices – not in isolation, but rather hand‑in‑hand with the communities at the heart of the research.

To the donors who have supported her along her journey, Simone says, “thank you for creating a space for us to gather and conduct research that privileges our ways of knowing, being and doing.”  

Written by Harriet Ticehurst for the donor publication. Hero image photography by Chris Gordon.