Dr. Elfie Shiosaki

Biography

Elfie Shiosaki is a Noongar Yawuru academic storyteller based in Southwest Australia, recognized for her contributions in community education and as a human rights award-winning advocate for Indigenous storytelling practices. She serves as the Director of the Centre for Indigenous Policy Research and completed her PhD focused on nation-building in 2015. Her research areas include the histories and advocacy of Indigenous peoples' rights and self-determination, as well as the significance of Indigenous storytelling within rights discourses. Elfie engages critical Indigenous research methodologies, contributing to new knowledge and decolonial theories that empower Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to transform Australia’s human rights culture. Her work emphasizes the social impact of Indigenous storytelling practices in supporting health, well-being, and cultural resilience. Prior to her current role, she was a Senior Lecturer in Indigenous Rights and Policy Governance at the School of Indigenous Studies at the University of Western Australia from 2018 to 2022. She also completed an Indigenous Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship in Human Rights Education at Curtin University from 2015 to 2018, and she served as the inaugural Editor of 'Nations Writing' from 2017 to 2021.

Research Interests