The Professor Ronald M and Dr Catherine H Berndt Research Foundation supports Australian Aboriginal social and cultural anthropology research.

In 1994 the Professor Ronald M and Dr Catherine H Berndt Research Foundation was established from a sum of money bequeathed to the University by Professor Ronald M and Dr Catherine H Berndt for the purpose of "encouraging and supporting research in the discipline of Australian Aboriginal Social and Cultural Anthropology", and to co-operate with Anthropology in the furtherance of social and cultural anthropological research in the area of Aboriginal Australia.

Activities

The Berndt Foundation’s activities include:

  • the provision of support for research in the area of Australian Indigenous social and cultural anthropology’
  • the award of Professor Ronald M and Dr Catherine H Berndt Research Foundation Prizes
  • support for the journal Anthropological Forum https://anthropologicalforum.net/
  • Postdoctoral Research Fellowship - Berndt Research Fellow. In 2017, the Berndt Foundation initiated a proposal for a three year research position (anthropology of Indigenous Australia), to be located in the School of Social Sciences and which would draw on the research potential of the Berndt Museum. The position is jointly funded by the Berndt Research Foundation, the Deputy Vice Chancellor Research, and the Faculty of Arts, Business, Law and Education. The successful recipient of this position is Dr Gretchen Stolte, who took up the position in June 2018.

Awards and scholarships

In the past, the Foundation has provided a nationally competitive postdoctoral fellowship for an anthropologist working in the area of Indigenous Australia (awarded to Katie Glaskin 2002-2005), and in 2016 it established a PhD scholarship, the UWA Berndt Postgraduate Scholarship, which also supports research in the field of social and cultural anthropology in Aboriginal Australia.

Postgraduate Research Scholarship
In 2016, Damian Hastings-James was awarded the inaugural UWA Berndt Postgraduate Scholarship for an anthropologist working in the area of Indigenous Australia, and took up the position in 2017.  

 

 

Foundation members

Professor Ronald M and Dr Catherine H Berndt Research Foundation Members include the following positions:

  • Co-Chair – Prof Alistair Paterson, School of Social Sciences, UWA
  • Co-Chair – Emeritus Professor David Trigger, Professor of Anthropology, School of Social Science, University of Queensland; Adjunct Professor of Anthropology, School of Social Science, UWA
  • Prof Jane Lydon, Wesfarmers Chair in Australian History, School of Humanities UWA
  • Dr Jilda Andrews, ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences
  • Dr John Stanton, Trustee of the Estate of Catherine H Berndt, Adjunct Professor, School of Social Science
  • Carly Lane - Aboriginal Cultural Centre Project, Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries
  • Donna Oxenham, Research Student, Humanities – UWA, Co-opted member

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