Atlantic Fellows for Social Equity Appoints New Advisory Board Members

The Atlantic Fellows for Social Equity (AFSE) is pleased to announce the appointment of the following new AFSE Advisory Board members.

Associate Professor Te Kawehau Hoskins (Ngāti Hau, Ngāpuhi) is an Associate Professor in Te Puna Wānanga (The School of Māori and Indigenous Education) and Pro-Vice Chancellor Māori at Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland. Her research interests are in qualitative social and educational research, politics, ethics of Indigene, settler relations, and multicultural and bicultural education. Associate Professor Hoskins is currently leading conversations about Indigenising the academy.

Adjunct Professor Janine Mohamed (Narrunga Kaurna) is the CEO of the Lowitja Institute – Australia's National Institute for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Research – and an AFSE Senior Fellow (2019 Cohort). She joins the board with over 25 years of experience in nursing, management, project management, research, and workforce and health policy at the state, national and international levels. In 2020, Janine received an honoris causa Doctorate of Nursing from Edith Cowan University, and in 2021, she was awarded a Distinguished Fellowship by The George Institute for Global Health Australia and became an Adjunct Professor at the University of South Australia. Janine was recently awarded the 2024 Australian of the Year for Victoria in recognition of her work in helping eradicate racism in healthcare while establishing pathways for Indigenous healthcare workers.

Dr Helen Szoke AO is a member of the University of Melbourne Council, Board Director of Life Without Barriers, a member of the Judicial Commission of Victoria, the Chair of the Australian Organ and Tissue Donor Authority, and an expert advisor for a wide range of organisations and projects focusing on Indigenous business, climate solutions, policy development and more. She is a passionate advocate for human rights, having held positions on state and national Human Rights Commissions, and has extensive experience in senior management and leadership, social equity advocacy, and policy and governance development.

Associate Professor Hoskins, Adjunct Professor Mohamed and Dr Szoke join the current AFSE Board: Chair, Professor Ian Anderson; Deputy Chair, Professor Jim McCluskey AO; and member, Professor Barry Judd.

The Board will guide AFSE in its mission to drive equity for and empowerment of Indigenous peoples and communities across the Pacific region.

AFSE Executive Director Professor Elizabeth McKinley said the three new members broaden the Board's impressive collective knowledge and expertise.

"The new Advisory Board has been consciously constructed to mirror the diversity of the AFSE community, blending vast expertise, knowledge and cultural diversity,” Professor McKinley said.

“Their invaluable input is critical to ensuring that the program continues to successfully enable Fellows to carry out the work of forging sustainable and meaningful social change for and with their people and communities.”

AFSE will open applications for the next Fellow intake in mid-2024. Sign up for AFSE's mailing list to be notified.

The Atlantic Fellows for Social Equity (AFSE) is a life-changing fellowship program for Indigenous social equity in Australia, Aotearoa New Zealand and the Pacific region.

AFSE was established at the University of Melbourne in 2016 with funding from the Atlantic Philanthropies – a foundation formed by the late philanthropist Chuck Feeney. The foundation has invested more than USD$660 million in seven international and interconnected Atlantic Fellows programs, one of which is AFSE.

Fellows in the AFSE program complete a foundation year in which they develop a social change project as part of a master degree in social change leadership. Upon completion, they graduate into the lifelong Global Atlantic Fellows community.

Over the course of 20 years, AFSE will drive Indigenous social equity by amplifying the influence of hundreds of social change makers and connecting them with thousands of peers around the world.