Applications open for Atlantic Fellows for Social Equity 2024 Program
Applications are now open for Atlantic Fellows for Social Equity (AFSE), seeking the next cohort of Indigenous social change leaders to join the program.
Based at the University of Melbourne, AFSE is a unique inter-cultural fellowship program for social equity, supporting the next generation of leaders to inspire, collaborate and provoke. It is run in collaboration with communities in Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific.
The 2024 cohort will be the sixth since the program started. This year AFSE is accepting applications from applicants from Pacific Island nations to join the program.
AFSE is one of the seven global and interconnected Atlantic Fellows programs, to which the Atlantic Philanthropies foundation has committed more than $US660 million worldwide.
“The program works towards Indigenous-led solutions that make a real impact in Indigenous communities, and advocates for Indigenous leadership and Indigenous ways of knowing as the foundation for social change. We are thrilled that the program will extend the geographic reach of its Fellowship intake to include people living in Pacific Island Nations for the 2024 academic year.” Professor Elizabeth McKinley ONZM, AFSE Executive Director
AFSE Fellows have come from a broad range of creative, professional, advocacy and educational backgrounds, and cohorts across programs include lawyers, artists, advocates, business professionals, health practitioners, government officials, academics and researchers.
Johnathon Captian-Webb (2022 cohort) a Gomeroi and Dunghutti man from Gomeroi and Dunghutti Countries, is the manager of Culture and Heritage at the NSW Aboriginal Land Council based in Western Sydney. There, he is working with 120 Local Aboriginal Land Councils across NSW to promote, protect and celebrate Aboriginal cultural heritage in all its forms.
Captian-Webb said the foundation year of the program completely changed how he viewed Aboriginal affairs and policy.
“Coming into this space I thought I knew everything about best practice for achieving outcomes for my community,” Captian-Webb said.
“This has been the best study I have ever done; the content and delivery have been amazing, the subject matter experts that we have in the room is second to none, and the readings we engaged with have been designed and tailored specifically for us as Indigenous people.”
2023 Fellow Alicia Veasey is a Torres Strait Islander woman providing state-wide advice on broader system issues and barriers to achieving health equity for Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander People in Queensland. She is also an Obstetrics and Gynaecology doctor and Co-Chair of Queensland Health’s state-wide Queensland Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Clinical Network.
Veasey said the program has been deeply transformational.
“After spending decades within colonial institutions of health and education, this program has provided me the space, support and tools to decolonise my mind,” Veasey said.
“I’ve been able to work towards changing systems to not just 'close-the-gap' but to change structures of power and systems so that we can have true health sovereignty for our communities.”
Applications can be made via the AFSE website and close on 5 August 2022.