Alumni Spotlight: Dr Brett Shannon

Alumni Spotlight: Dr Brett Shannon

Dr Brett Shannon is a descendant of the Ngugi people from Quandamooka country. He recently completed his PhD at the University of Illinois, Chicago with the support of a Roberta Sykes Scholarship. His PhD focused on Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, which he chose so that he could begin advocating for Indigenous voices in the occupational health space. The Roberta Sykes Scholarship enabled Brett to undertake key research in his field, while building a network of international contacts working to improve occupational health systems and standards for Indigenous populations globally.

Brett also shared that Aurora helped him to apply for other international scholarships to support his studies, and how to navigate the application process. “[The Aurora team] really supported me not just in awarding me a Roberta Sykes Scholarship and supporting me through that process, but they expanded and helped me find all these other avenues for financial support.”

Receiving a Roberta Sykes Scholarship didn’t only give Brett the financial support he needed to get to the University of Illinois. Being an Aurora Scholar gave him an opportunity to connect with other First Nations scholars studying abroad, who knew what he was going through and could relate to his experience: “It meant a lot from a personal point of view because of the connections I made with other Indigenous scholars and the team at Aurora. Those connections are really grounding, because people have been through what you’re going through, and are able to provide advice on the journey and really bring it back to why you’re doing what you’re doing, because it’s easy to get lost while you’re overseas.”

Brett has also been part of the Aurora International Study Tour as a participant and a mentor.

The support from Brett’s community and from Aurora was long-lasting and meaningful throughout his PhD. “When you’re close-knit with the community, in a family network, it’s hard to see people go overseas for long periods of time so that was hard for me and for my family and loved ones, but everyone has been so supportive of my work from my local community. Some Elders from my community were referees, which was a huge boost of confidence. The team at Aurora has supported me in other ways throughout the journey, so I’ve had support throughout the entire three years, not just financially but also wellbeing support.”

Now that Brett has completed his PhD, he has big plans. He is now working in a postdoctoral position at the University of Illinois, continuing to publish his research and looking at how he can use this work to benefit Indigenous communities back home and internationally.

“One of my main goals in coming and doing the PhD was to set up a research agenda in this area of Indigenous occupational health. Currently we don’t have a national occupational research agenda. We don’t record Indigenous status on workers compensation claims, we don’t record Indigenous status on most occupational health surveillance in Australia, and that makes it really difficult to understand what Indigenous workers are being exposed to, what injuries and illnesses they’re experiencing, in the workplace. It creates a really big blind spot in the occupational health space.”

This work hasn’t come without its challenges. “It’s been really challenging, to be honest, to try and push back and try and get some of those policy changes happening in Australia… things are moving slowly, but I think if I keep pushing and keep doing this work, we’ll achieve some key policy changes to start some of the research that I’m doing over here in Australia.”

His second priority is to set up Indigenous occupational health networks around the world and work with Indigenous researchers and communities globally. He has already begun this work, and met with fellow Indigenous occupational health researchers from the US, Canada, and New Zealand, among others, at a conference in Morrocco for the first time in May. He is also on a steering committee for occupational medicine globally and uses his role there to advocate for Indigenous populations. Brett hopes to continue growing this global network of Indigenous researchers in occupational health.

Brett is a strong advocate for education, and believes in using his experience to support future cohorts of Aurora scholars to succeed in their education journeys. “I think with the right supports, the sky’s the limit for Indigenous students. I’d love to help any students to navigate their education journey, and that’s why I think Aurora’s so important: they are helping give students the supports they need to get to that next level.”

Beyond these goals and aspirations, Brett hopes to do participatory research studies in different Indigenous communities to understand their different needs, better equipping him to advocate for the broad range of issues that affect Indigenous workforces across communities.

Brett’s goals are reflective of his different definitions of success. On one hand, he feels that success is defined by taking good care of his family and friends and giving back: “I think there’s professional successes and personal successes. Personally, I work really hard to be a good fiancé and a good husband. I think that’s really important. Supporting our loved ones and our family is top of the list in terms of successes we can have. Number two is supporting people in other ways, in life, how I can. I’ve been given a lot of support to get to where I am today. I want to give back and support people through their journeys just like how I was supported by lots of Indigenous and non-Indigenous leaders in Australia.”

On the other hand, Brett feels that being successful is also defined by his ability to make a difference in his field. “I think as a clinician in health you always want to give back to your community. You want to care for your people and make a difference in population health outcomes. For me, obviously, I’m particularly interested in making a difference in Indigenous occupational health outcomes. I think that’s all we want really, for the next generation to have it better off than we did.”

From a First Nations perspective, Brett believes that success lies in Indigenous peoples’ ability to work together to uplift each other and create a better future for the next generation of Indigenous people:

“[Our generation of Indigenous people] are the first generation to have this access to a global network. I think that’s going to help us be successful. How Indigenous people all over the world work together and learn from each other, and how we open doors for each other. We can be a big support and advocate for each other. And that’s what the Aurora Scholarships Program’s goal for us is really, to take what we’re learning from different countries and bring it home and I think once you go through the process of doing study overseas you really see that.”

Brett’s advice to anyone applying for a Roberta Sykes or Charlie Perkins Scholarship is simple: don’t overthink it.

“Just go for it. I think we can overthink a lot of these decisions. You can count the numbers, you can do the finances, you can do the years it’s going to take, but honestly you only get one life and if you go for it and apply for an Aurora scholarship and get a chance to go overseas, you will never regret it. It’s an experience. Some of that experience might be a bad experience, but most of it will be a good experience, and it’ll be an experience that is worthwhile in life. It will help shape you as a person and your career.”

Applications for the Roberta Sykes Scholarship and Charlie Perkins Scholarship are now open, closing on 31 January 2025 at 11:59pm AEST. Learn more about the Charlie Perkins Scholarship here, and about the Roberta Sykes Scholarship here