Our Team

Our team of Nyingarn chief investigators work alongside communities and project partners to identify and access early language manuscripts in national and international collections, develop protocols and permissions, and build and test the Nyingarn workspace and repository. Our goal is to make as many early manuscripts easily accessible and searchable by communities.

The core team responsible for the design and development of the Nyingarn Platform (this site, the workspace and repository):

Project lead: A/Prof Nick Thieberger
As project lead Nick is responsible for overseeing the project and ensuring the work on the platform is consistent with the needs of the community.
Project Manager: Dr Sophie Lewincamp
Sophie is responsible for community engagement, management, training and outreach. Sophie has loaded, or helped load, most of the 500 manuscripts and counting!
Platform design and development: Dr Marco La Rosa
Marco designed and developed the Nyingarn Platform (Workspace and Repository). Marco translates user requirements into capabilites, develops them and manages the platform services.
TEI / XML development: Conal Tuohy
Conal is the Text Encoding Inititative (TEI) / XML expert. Conal designed and developed the XML processing infrastructure that is a central capability in the workspace.
Nyingarn Logo Design: Nina Fitzgerald
Nyingarn Poster: Allyra Murray

Chief Investigators in the ARC LIEF grant

A/Prof Nick Thieberger, University of Melbourne (project lead)
Prof Clint Bracknell, University of Western Australia
Lauren Reed, Australian Institute for Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Studies
Prof Jane Simpson, The Australian National University
A/Prof Stephen Morey, La Trobe University
Prof Linda Barwick, The University of Sydney
Prof Jakelin Troy, The University of Sydney
Prof Nicholas Enfield, The University of Sydney
A/Prof Myfany Turpin, The University of Sydney
A/Prof Robert Amery, The University of Adelaide
Prof Trevor Cohn, The University of Melbourne
Dr Terhi Nurmikko-Fuller, The Australian National University

Steering Committee

The Nyingarn Steering Committee are steering the project from implementation to project platform delivery. The committee’s work focuses on but is not limited to implementing ethical and culturally appropriate processes around manuscript access. Communities need access to these important early manuscripts for language revitalisation and community learning.

Meet our Committee Members

Lauren Booker
Dr Vicki Couzens
Dr Sandra Delaney
Craig Duncan
Callum Clayton-Dixon
Baressa Frazer
Charmaine Green
Brendan Kennedy
Kaitlyn Lodewikus
Theresa Sainty
Gari Tudor-Smith
Dr Thomas Watson
Paul Williams

The Nyingarn team would like to thank and acknowledge two former committee members, Jodie Dowd and Nathan Mudyi Sentance.

Collectively, our Steering Committee’s role is to:
– Direct project outcomes
– Establish and drive manuscript access protocols
– Oversee and engage in ethical research activities following the University of Melbourne Human Ethics, Protocols for using First Nations Cultural & Intellectual Property in the Arts

and NHMRC’s Ethical conduct in research with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and communities: Guidelines for researchers and stakeholders
– Provide direction to the project team
– Monitor timelines and quality of the project as it develops
– Identify early Indigenous language manuscripts for ingestion into Nyingarn
– Identify potential project risks and develop strategies to navigate them
– Support community networks and collaboration
– Support the project and act as an advocate for its outcomes
Membership includes: Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander leaders in language revitalisation and/or research.

We are guided by the Australia Council for the Arts Protocols for using First Nations Cultural & Intellectual Property in the Arts