RMIT University has launched Yoonggama Ma Nga, a new Indigenous knowledge and transdisciplinary research cohort, during NAIDOC Week celebrations.

The initiative, grounded in sovereign and self-determined principles, will operate autonomously and aims to transform how First Nations knowledge is taught, shared, and embedded in academia.

A dedicated hub will also be open at RMIT's City Campus in Naarm (Melbourne), to serve as a meeting place for Indigenous students and academics, supporting land-based learning and research for First Nations people.

Dr Vicki Couzens, a Keerray Wooroong Gunditjmara woman and Research Fellow in the College of Design and Social Context at RMIT, co-designed the initiative with Professor Suzi Hutchings from Swinburne University of Technology.

Dr Couzens said Yoonggama Ma Nga would be an "autonomous, self-determined research and training academy for our own identified priorities and land-based learning."

"It's the culmination of a lifetime's work in our community," she said.

The name Yoonggama Ma Nga is drawn from Keerray Woorroong and Arrernte language, meaning "reciprocity". The program centres Indigenous values and aims to build a supportive research environment where knowledge is shared through yarns, ceremony, and cultural practices.

"Everything comes from Country, so research and learning outcomes could be anything from cultural knowledge and practices, language or ceremony, right through to fire burning and revegetation," Dr Couzens said.

"There's a lot of goodwill at RMIT, and there is an opportunity to establish something new, and actually create a space and a place outside the Western, capitalist framework, which isn't designed for First Nations success."

On RMIT's website, Yoonggama Ma Nga is described as a vision "to uphold the intention of integral and inherent cultural responsibility and obligation through a promise and action in regenerative reciprocity".

"It is the promise of continuance, of futurity; enacted and maintained through caring for, of and with Kin and Country; transmission of Knowledge, learning and teaching. It is legacy."

The mission statement outlines six key priorities:

- Initiating best practice First Nations knowledge creation with individuals, groups, and communities;

- Developing First Nations curricula that serve community needs;

- Delivering transformative research and training that disrupts colonial structures;

- Supporting Indigenous entrepreneurship and economic opportunity;

- Valuing Indigenous languages and knowledge systems as cultural and social capital; and

- Improving retention and support for First Nations staff and research candidates at RMIT.

While RMIT was among several universities that did not take a formal position on the 2023 Voice to Parliament referendum, the university said several projects are already underway through the new centre, focusing on First Nations knowledge systems in language, art, performance, and culture.

The university also indicated plans to expand Yoonggama Ma Nga into a broader, sovereign First Nations academy with future locations established on Country.

Tim Marshall, Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Design and Social Context and Vice-President, said the centre represents a meaningful shift in Indigenous academic leadership.

"Yoonggama Ma Nga is part of RMIT's commitment to carving out safe and inclusive spaces for First Nations academics, who can operate on their own terms, with operational support from RMIT," he said.

"Its establishment signifies a new paradigm, in which First Nations academics will determine their own research priorities, training and learning needs."