Community

Community Stories

Community stories is a place where neurodivergent staff and students can share their experiences, thoughts, and feelings about working and studying at the University of Melbourne.

If you would like to participate and record a video with us, write a blog post, or share a podcast episode related to neurodiversity that you have been featured in, please contact us at nd-project@unimelb.edu.au.

Interview with Dr Kate Coleman

Dr. Kate Coleman is an academic staff member in the Faculty of Education.

Interview with Adon McGeorge

Adon McGeorge is a professional staff member from the Future Student Team.

Interview with Ashley Anderson

Ashley is a Learning Designer and current PhD student

Interview with Poppy Paraw

Poppy is a professional staff member working in digital marketing and communications.

Podcast Interview with the University of Melbourne Neurodiversity Project

Our team recently recorded a podcast with Emilia Bell from GLAMR Disability in Dialogue and discussed what it is like to be neurodivergent academics working within the disability space. If you would like to listen and support Emilia and Nikki's podcast, please click on the image below.

Community stories is a place where neurodivergent staff and students can share their experiences, thoughts, and feelings about working and studying at the University of Melbourne.

Read long form written interviews with featured staff and students below.

Interview with Keshia Arbour

Keshia is a Proposal Manager in the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) team in Research, Commercialisation and Innovation (RIC) at the University of Melbourne. Keshia is also a member of the UoMNP Staff Advisory Group.

She works with researchers to help turn their ideas into funding proposals for the MRFF and turn their ideas into research that helps improve, and sometimes even save, the lives of many Australians.

In her own words, she shares her journey navigating ADHD through schooling, university, working in research management and parenthood.

Keshia Arbour, RIC staff member pictured with dog.

Get ready for our upcoming Neurodiversity Social Events!

In response to feedback received at the Neurodiversity Symposium in 2024 and requests for more neurodiversity-affirming events, we hope to bring together our community to connect with one another in a space that is welcoming and inclusive.

Join us for our first staff event on Thursday, 3 July 2025 at the Faculty of Education.

Neurodiversity Project - Staff Crafternoon

Thursday 3 July, 3pm - 5pm

Location: David Clarke Research Classroom.

Level 4, Kwong Lee Dow Building, Faculty of Education. 234 Queensberry St, Parkville VIC 3053.

Register here

Come along to our neurodiversity-affirming Crafternoon, where you can take part in knitting, lego-making, colouring-in and more.

We will provide arts and crafts supplies, but you are welcome to bring or share your own!

This will be a space for you to unwind, get creative and meet a support network from the neurodiversity community at the University.

This free event is open to University of Melbourne staff members, postgraduate and graduate students. We will be hosting a social event for students of all levels later in the year.

We unfortunately cannot provide catering, however, there will be tea/coffee and small snacks available.

We look forward to having you join us and get creative!

Note: the event date was previously listed as Friday 4 July. We apologise for the incorrection and will notify all attendees of the change to Thursday 3 July 2025.

The fun and revelry room at the Neurodiversity Research Symposium 2024.

Venue Accessibility

Accessible entrance located on Leicester St
Two elevators are located centrally, in front of the stairwell
Toilets, including an accessible all-gender toilet are located behind the central stairwell
Level 4 also has two gendered multi-stall bathrooms, and an all-gender accessible bathroom. Hand towels will be provided for those who prefer to avoid the automatic hand-dryers.
A water station for humans will be available for refills throughout the event.
Level 2 has a dedicated parenting room that will be available to caregivers.

A detailed venue map and accessibility document will be available soon.

Contact

For any enquiries regarding the social event, please email: nd-project@unimelb.edu.au.

Founded by the University of Melbourne Neurodiversity Project in 2024, the Higher Education Neurodiversity Network is a global community of like-minded individuals working within universities and other institutes of higher education to better support their neurodivergent staff and/or students through neurodiversity-affirming research and practice.

Members of the network meet via zoom six times a year to share information about their respective initiatives, request advice/feedback, and build community. Our first meeting will be in November 2024 (date and time to come), where we will each introduce ourselves and co-design the future of this network.

We are also in the process of setting up a LinkedIn group, so watch this space!

FAQ

The University of Melbourne Neurodiversity Project founded the Higher Education Neurodiversity Network to connect with, and learn from, other community-led groups and individuals working within institutes of higher education to better support their neurodivergent students, professional staff, and/or academics. Particularly individuals/groups who are passionate about inclusive teaching and learning, building neurodiversity-affirming communities, connecting staff and students with neurodiversity-affirming support services, and/or conducting neurodiversity-affirming research.
If this description sounds like you or your team, we would love to hear from you.
If you are interested in joining the Higher Education Neurodiversity Network and attending our online meetings, please email Dr. Jessica Riordan at nd-project@unimelb.edu.au for more information.