Jo Burton and Cathy Eatock are both undertaking PhD research specific to, and through the lens of First Peoples of Australia.

Alongside a group of their peers, the pair took part in an on-Country retreat through Gundungurra, Darug and Wiradjuri lands to instill their work with new elements of Indigenous knowledge.

Ms Burton and Ms Eatock took part in the University of Sydney's Ngurra Research Writing Retreat this summer.

The group of 10 Indigenous PhD students and higher degree by research (HDR) candidates with the university took part in the initiative, engaging with each others' research, significant cultural sites, meeting places and customs with local custodians.

It involved engagement with traditional knowledge systems, community, reflection, and structured writing time, as explained.

"Starting our retreat in Kedumba (Katoomba) with Uncle David King's welcome to, and safe passage through, Gundungurra and Darug Country on our way to Wiradjuri Country set the tone for this deeply spiritual and inclusive gathering," Ms Burton said.

The Wiradjuri woman is exploring the professional identity of the custodial health nurse providing medical care in the justice system in undertaking her PhD with the university's Faculty of Medicine and Health.

With over four decades of nursing experience (more than 20 years in the NSW prison system) Ms Burtson specialises in First Nations intergenerational trauma and recovery care.

"I have lived here for many years, but Uncle David gave me new insight into Country and the value of stories and family, reaffirming my connection to this place," she said.

"Connecting with my fellow HDR student sisters, learning from Aunty Stacey Kim Coates and the fantastic academic allies, has given me confidence and focus to complete my PhD studies."

The students and candidates were joined by supporting academics from the Social and Political Sciences and Business School on the retreat.

Ms Eatock's research concerns the United Nations' capacity to support the recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander self-determination.

She said the retreat was an "invaluable opportunity to travel out onto Country and hear from local elders of their ancestral connections and history".

Beginning at the Three Sisters, a declared Aboriginal Place and site with significance to Dreaming Stories and multiple nations surrounding the Blue Mountains region, the group engaged with these creation stories before travelling further west.

"It enabled space to reflect on our research journey and how our research linked with our own communities, elders, histories and experiences," Ms Eatock, a Gayiri and Badtjala woman, said of the retreat.

"Meeting with other HDR mob and hearing of their research highlighted that despite the diversity of our work, it's tied together by our shared cultural obligations to our communities.

"The presentations, particularly by Aunty Stacey Kim Coates, reassured me that it's normal to feel lost at times as we negotiate where we fit in higher degree research."

Associate Professor Coates is a Wiradjuri woman and associate dean of Indigenous strategy and services at the Univeristy of Sydney's Business School.

She said the contributions of local Elder and artist Uncle Lewis Burns, who met the group in Dubbo, "set the rhythm for a retreat centred on care, voice and cultural continuity."

In Dubbo, on Wiradjuri Country, Uncle Lewis passed on knowledge of long-held custodianship of the area and practice entwined in Country.

This included knowledge of scar trees and evidence of methods for making canoe, shelter and food-carriers.

The University of Sydney's Business School supported the retreat. It came as one of several elements part of the university's Indigenous strategy.