This event invites HDR students to participate with academic staff at a variety of career stages in two half Study Days on the topic of Listening and Storytelling as academic method.
Over two half days, and in a mix of modes that include two keynote speaker-storyteller-facilitators, lightning stories, and participatory workshops, the study days will engage researchers across arts and humanities disciplines (and beyond) to consider the creative, reflective and relational practices of storytelling and deep listening.
The Study Days draw on theoretical framings from Pacific (Tok stori) and Australian Indigenous (Dadirri) intellectual traditions and flip the usual hierarchy of storyteller and listener to start with methods of listening that create generative, relational spaces for receiving and holding stories.
Two half-day workshops, where Day 1 focuses on deep listening and relational practice, and Day 2 focuses on storytelling and yarning will give students the opportunity to present lightning stories (including songs) from their own research and to workshop the methodologies presented by two expert guest speakers – Dr Michael Mel (University of Papua New Guinea) and Nardi Simpson (University of Sydney).
This format aims to encourage participants to explore fresh approaches to their research and critical thinking across disciplinary boundaries, supported in particular by Sydney Conservatorium of Music and the Powerful Stories Network in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.
Expressions of interest to attend are due by 15 November 2025.
Nardi Simpson is a First Nations, Yuwaalaraay storyteller, composer and singer/song- writer based in Sydney. She is a multi-award-winning novelist for her books Song of the Crocodile (2000) and the belburd (2024) both published by Hatchette Australia.
She is a postdoctoral researcher on two ARC-funded projects at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, focussed on Yuwaalaraay music and women’s knowledge around sacred waterways, women’s creation and healing.
Michael Mel is a performance artist, teacher, museum curator, and indigenous ways advocate from Mt. Hagen, in the Western Highlands of Papua New Guinea.
He has worked in Universities as senior academic and Manager, and in Museums as a Collections Manager. He is presently working as the Director for Melanesian Institute for Arts and Cultures (MIAC) at the University of Papua New Guinea
Banner Image: Ancestors (Photographer Greg Hillman). From the album Breathe, by Clare Kuolga Meere
