Prizes for projects that practice or preserve Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledge systems

The following is a recording of a webinar that was held at 2:00 pm Australian Eastern Daylight Savings Time on Tuesday 2 December 2025.

Introduction

Bianka Skiller 

Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to the Department of Industry, Science and Resources webinar on how to prepare a nomination for the Prime Minister's Prize for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Knowledge Systems.

My name is Bianka Skiller and joining me today we have Bridgette Byrne and Claudia Stein.

We are part of a larger team who deliver the Prime Minister's Prizes for Science.

We are excited to be here today and pleased that you could join us.

To begin the webinar, we will play a video featuring Professor Tom Calma AO, who will provide an overview of today's session.

Introduction video

Professor Tom Calma AO

Hi, I'm Tom Calma.

I'm Kungarakan, Iwaidja and Woolwonga from the Darwin region in the Northern Territory.

I'm also a member of the selection committee for this prize.

I'd like to begin by acknowledging Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people across Australia, across all the Countries that you're coming in from.

I recognise your Elders past and present, and also recognise your youth, like I do for all youth.

You're going to be our future leaders, the custodians of our stories, our cultures, our histories and their languages.

Today we're in a webinar that that will give you the opportunity to understand more about the prize, how to apply for it, the eligibility criteria and any other questions you might have about the prize.

But also recognising that if you are a prize winner, you will become an ambassador for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and you'll be able to go and spruik who we are and about our knowledge systems and the great work that you do.

But also remember that you know all genders, male, female and all genders and our youth are eligible for this award.

So take the opportunity to participate in this webinar.

And if you require more information, you'll be told how to get it by going to industry.gov.au/PMPrizes and you'll get all the information there as well.

Bianka Skiller 

Along with Tom, I would also like to acknowledge and welcome Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples joining the webinar today.

I come to you from the lands of the Palawa people on the Northeast coast of Lutruwita and I acknowledge the lands from where you find yourself today.

We are recording today's session so that this information remains available, including for those who are unable to attend the live session.

What you will learn

Bianka Skiller 

As Tom described, today, we will explain to you who can be nominated and who can nominate them.

We'll run through what information you need to gather for your nomination and show you where and how to submit your nomination.

We will also provide you with tips to help you submit a strong nomination and where you can get help if you need it.

Nominations for this prize will close on the 18th of December at 5:00 pm AEDT.

We are using Slido to capture audience questions and to access Slido on your computer, phone or tablet.

You can use the QR code or the link that you can see on your screen.

You may also find it easy to use the link that was in the email received following your registration for this event.

I'll just give you a moment to set up Slido so that you will have it ready to submit your questions.

Hopefully that has given you enough time to set up Slido.

Please submit your questions throughout this session as we will spend time later in the webinar to answer the questions that have come through.

If there are any questions already submitted in Slido that you're also interested in, please give it a thumbs up as this will help us prioritise the questions to answer in the time we have.

However, if there are any questions we are unable to answer during this session, we will answer with a follow up email.

About the prize

Bianka Skiller 

The Knowledge Systems Prize is one of 8 prizes included in the Prime Minister's Prizes for Science.

The Prime Minister's Prizes are Australia's most prestigious and highly regarded awards for achievements in scientific research and research-based innovation, the practice of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledge systems and excellence in science teaching.

The other categories include 5 science prizes and 2 science teaching prizes.

So this Knowledge Systems Prize will be awarded to an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander led project that benefits Australian Indigenous peoples, communities or place.

That contributes to solving a significant challenge through the practice and preservation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledge systems.

That demonstrates sincere connection and respectful engagement with community and Australian Indigenous peoples and that elevates Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledge systems.

The 2026 prize recipients of all the prizes will be announced at a presentation event that will be held later next year.

Recipients of this prize receive $250,000 in prize money, a certificate, a lapel pin and a prize medallion, the beautiful image of which you can see on this slide.

This prize offers recipients the opportunity to share their important work and it's impact with the nation.

They will become important role models who can inspire other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and all Australians.

The Prime Minister's Prize for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Knowledge Systems was awarded for the first time to Professor Michael Wear on the 3rd of November of this year.

We will now play a short video of Michael speaking about this amazing achievement.

Knowledge Systems Prize recipient video

Professor Michael Wear

We're saltwater people, we live by the ocean, we have salt water in our blood.

As Malgana people, we're on a mission to look after Country and make sure Country looks after us.

I'm Professor Michael Wear and the founder of Tidal Moon.

I'm from Shark Bay, I'm a Malgana person and I'm a direct descendant of all the old people here.

Shark Bay is located on the West Australian coastline.

It's about 900 kilometres away from Perth.

In 2011, 2012, there's a massive heat wave and the scientists that were up here, all they saw was seagrass.

But we saw seagrass died, sea cucumber got bigger.

Seagrass is the lifeline of Shark Bay.

Without seagrass, Shark Bay doesn't really exist.

And sea cucumbers are the nutrient filters that clean the sea floor and make everything pristine.

So to help develop a model to protect our seagrass and protect Malgana Country, we had to rely on the symbolic relationship between seagrass and sea cucumbers.

So the key for us is now capturing that and develop a way that we can train our people and give them skills on how to do seagrass restoration.

Indigenous people were curious, and we like to observe nature. 

Our divers’ observations. We input it to our computers, and it goes off to a place like Murdoch University, and you have live stream of what the data is collected on the day in accordance with the tide, the moon, the date, the weather, everything.

That data has never been collected in a cultural directed way where Indigenous people are leading.

We wanted them to explore ways on how we can use that commodity of a sea cucumber to go into the biomedical market.

The goal for us was to recreate Australia's first trade and now we're trying to expand on that, and my goal now is to scale up, do it sustainable, help the ocean, help people through biomedical and make sure the jobs are there to be inherited by my young people.

Tidal Moon is a free-market enterprise, but it's based around science and culture.

We view the sea cucumbers as something that can help the general population.

They have so many untapped resources within them.

For me to receive the Prime Minister's Prize for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledge systems is unbelievable and I'm so humbled to be the first, but I don't want to be the last.

Who can be nominated

Bianka Skiller 

I honestly get goosebumps every time I watch Michael's story.

And as Michael said, he is humbled to be the first but doesn't want to be the last.

And through this prize we can continue to recognise others who are doing amazing things through the practice of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledge systems.

To be eligible for this prize and follow in Michael's footsteps, nominees must be Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander.

They can be an individual, members of a team or representatives of a community group.

Nominees must be practising Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander knowledge systems as part of an Indigenous led project and nominees do not need to have a form of qualification, be a member of a professional association or have received any prior award to be eligible.

This prize is not designed to recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander researchers who are not using Australian Indigenous knowledge systems in their work.

However, these scientists and researchers may be eligible for the other prize categories in the Prime Minister's Prizes for Science.

Who can nominate

Bianka Skiller 

So to nominate, you need to know about the project and be familiar with the project, making sure you have the nominee's permission to nominate them.

It is not possible to nominate someone if they are your close family member, such as a parent, spouse, child or sibling.

You also cannot nominate yourself, but you can find someone else who can nominate you or your family member.

I will now hand over to Claudia who will provide you with information on how to nominate.

How to nominate 

Claudia Stein

Thank you, Bianka.

We will now run through how you can submit a nomination.

The nomination process runs over 2 stages.

Stage 1 information

Claudia Stein 

At Stage 1, you'll provide your contact details and the contact details of the person, team or community group representatives that you are nominating.

You will also need to prepare 4 key things for your Stage 1 nomination.

A written response to each of the assessment criteria listed in the guidelines.

This doesn't need to be lengthy, just up to 790 words or roughly 4500 characters in total.

You will also need a two-page written description of the nominee's background.

This is needed for each nominee if you're nominating a team, and the template for this is available on the business.gov.au website.

If you are nominating a community group, you just need to provide one about the community group itself.

Please make sure you use the template provided and that the final document does not exceed two pages.

You will also need the contact details of two people who have agreed to support the nomination and can offer informed opinions about its significance.

One of the supporters must be an Indigenous person from the community or place associated with the knowledge system being practiced in the nominated project.

At least one of the supporters should be able to confirm the indigeneity of each nominee.

This supporter must also be Indigenous.

You can list an additional Indigenous supporter for the sole purpose of confirming indigeneity.

If the other 2 supporters are not able to. And you need contact details of two additional people who have agreed to provide an independent reference for the nomination, the department will approach independent referees for shortlisted nomination at Stage 2.

Before you include the referee details in your nomination, please make sure you contact the persons and confirm their commitment to provide a referee report.

They will be able to do so either in writing or as an audio or video submission at Stage 2.

business.gov.au website

The prizes web page on business.gov.au/knowledge systems prize is your central source of information about nominating for the prize.

This page will help you prepare your nomination, and it includes a link to the Grants Portal where you will submit your nomination.

It also contains relevant information about the prize itself, eligibility criteria and the key documents needed for nominating.

You can scroll down the page or navigate using the hyperlinks on the left-hand side.

Key documents

In the ‘Key documents’ section, you will find the grant guidelines, sample application forms for each of the forms, individual teams and community group, the template for the written description of the nominee's background, and the ‘Additional advice for responding to assessment criteria’ document.

We recommend you use the sample application forms to prepare before you go in to submit your nomination on the portal.

The forms will list all the questions and information required for completing a Stage 1 form.

Once you've gathered the information for your nomination, you will go to the Grants Portal through the business.gov.au website.

When you click ‘Apply now’ on the page, it will direct you to the Grants Portal.

Grant Portal

In the Grants Portal you will need to sign in with an existing account or create a new one.

Once logged into the portal, there will be helpful information for best navigating the portal, including browser recommendations and tips about saving a form.

Once you are in the Grant Portal, you will be asked a few questions to direct you to the appropriate program.

You will be asked if you have an Australian Business Number.

You don't need one to submit a nomination for this prize, so please select no to this question.

Next you will be asked about your entity type.

Here you will need to select that you are an individual who is completing the form. 

For the question, ‘Why do you not have an ABN?’ you select ‘An ABN is not required for a prize’.

Once you've answered those questions, this will bring you to the program selection.

In the drop-down list, you choose the nomination form.

You need individual team or community group.

While completing the form, please make sure you provide all the information requested.

As I mentioned before, you can use the sample application forms to prepare before you actually log into the portal and complete the form.

While you are completing the form, the system will do some basic checking of your answers.

It will alert you if there are any obvious issues, for example, you're missing an answer to a mandatory question or you're exceeding the character limit of a question.

Make sure you have checked all the details so that your nomination is eligible.

You will only be able to submit the nomination form once you've passed all form eligibility checks and completed all checks of the form.

How we assess nominations

Once nominations for Stage 1 close, the department will assess all nominations against the eligibility criteria and the guidelines.

If your nomination is eligible, it will be forwarded to an Independent Assessment Committee.

The assessment committee is an independent group of experts with deep appreciation for and experience working with Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander knowledge systems.

The committee has a majority Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander membership.

Its composition reflects diversity across gender, geographical location and mob or language group representation.

The role of the committee is to assess each nomination against the assessment criteria.

It will compare it against other eligible nominations, and it will prepare a short list of nominations for Stage 2 to progress, nominations must score at least 50% against each assessment criterion.

Only the highest-ranking nominations will be invited to Stage 2.

The committee will also consider achievements and context such as career interruptions, community responsibilities and other relevant circumstances.

It's important to note they will only assess the requested information provided in the nomination.

Any additional material will not be considered.

Notification of outcomes

The nominator for each Stage 1 nomination will be advised of the outcome by email at the end of Stage 1.

If your nomination is shortlisted, you'll receive an invitation to participate in Stage 2.

This email will include a link to the portal where you can start a new nomination form for Stage 2.

Information from your Stage 1 nomination form will be prefilled into the Stage 2 form.

Stage 2 nominations will open on the 31st of March 2026 and close on the 23rd of April 2026.

Stage 2 information

In Stage 2, we invite the nominator and the two supporters to prepare a more detailed nomination addressing the assessment criteria.

Here's what you'll need to do.

You'll need to respond to each of the three assessment criteria using no more than 9000 characters in total.

Alternatively, at Stage 2, we invite you to provide an audio or video submission of approximately 10 minutes instead.

You will also need to provide 2 supporter statements.

These can be either on a template provided on the business.gov.au website, roughly 6000 characters in total, or also the option to provide an audio or video submission of about 7 minutes.

You will also need include all necessary and additional optional attachments as outlined in the guidelines.

Please note audio or video submissions are only accepted at Stage 2.

Stage 2 process

Once Stage 2 submissions are complete, the department will refer the nominator and supporter statements to the independent referees.

These referees will be asked to provide their professional opinions on the claims made in the nomination.

The department will again check eligibility for nominations and only eligible nominations will go to the Independent Assessment Committee for consideration.

The committee will assess all Stage 2 nominations against the assessment criteria, compare them against other eligible nominations and recommend a prize recipient.

Finally, the Minister for Science will make the final decision on the prize recipient.

Thank you.

And I'm now handing over to Bridgette to talk about tips for your nomination.

Tips for nominating

Bridgette Byrne

Thank you, Bianka, and thank you, Claudia.

In the next section, we will provide tips to help you submit a strong nomination.

Tip: Address all assessment criteria with examples

For your nomination, you must address all 3 assessment criteria at each stage of the process.

Read the criteria carefully, link your project to the assessment criteria and provide detailed examples that demonstrate real world contribution and support your claims.

To make your nominations stand out, think about what makes the project truly unique and why it deserves the prize.

Make sure your responses are well structured so each assessment criteria is clearly addressed.

Bring your nomination to life with specific examples of activities, achievements and the impact the nominee has made.

Back up your claims with evidence that demonstrates credibility.

Share the challenges faced along the way and the outcomes the nominee has achieved.

And finally, steer clear of vague statements or generalisations.

The more detail you provide, the more compelling your case will be.

Tip: Describe the knowledge systems

The nomination will need to describe will need to demonstrate the practice of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander knowledge systems.

In the nomination, you need to describe the question being addressed, its significance, and how the practice of the knowledge systems have benefited broader scientific understandings and processes.

You also need to describe how the project was conducted.

You should be specific about which Indigenous knowledges are being used in the project.

This includes naming the community the knowledge system comes from, as well as the name of the Country or place the knowledge system is being practiced.

Finally, you need to explain how Indigenous knowledge systems have led to the project's success.

Here, you could explain how the knowledge systems have been used to solve a significant challenge of importance to Indigenous peoples, communities or place.

Or, if relevant, you could explain how the knowledge systems in the project have been woven with Western science.

There are many examples for how knowledge systems are solving significant challenges.

Some projects are helping to restore or conserve the environment.

Other projects are translating Indigenous knowledges for medical or pharmaceutical benefit.

There are also projects that are innovatively translating Indigenous engineering knowledge.

There are also projects translating Indigenous knowledges for sustainable food production.

Some projects are building economic self-determination for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

Tip: Work with nominee(s)

We recommend working closely with the nominee to prepare the nomination.

Strong nominations are developed in partnership with nominees, especially when describing cultural Knowledges and their significance to the project.

We recommend engaging with the nominee early in the nomination process.

Seek their input on how knowledges are described and contextualised.

Work with the nominee to collect clear evidence-based examples.

Finally, we recommend working with the nominee to ensure the nomination and the information it shares respects cultural protocols and sensitivities.

Tip: Describe the project journey

When describing the project being nominated, think about its journey across a timeline, it's past, present and future.

Presenting your project in this way will help assessors understand its progression and the context of the achievement.

Providing a timeline will also help you if you are nominating a project that occurred some time ago.

A timeline will help you demonstrate the project's long-term impacts and provide key, clear connections to the project's origins.

To build this timeline, think about when did the project begin?

What were the key milestones or phases of the project?

What significant events have occurred since the project started?

What is happening with the project right now?

What enduring relationships have been created throughout the project?

What benefits have been delivered back to the original group you worked with?

What's next for the project?

This may include describing the lifespan of the project and how long the positive outcomes are expected to last.

If the project is continuing, what does the future of the project look like?

For example, are there any plans for the next generation to get involved?

Tip: Highlight the project’s significance

The nomination should describe the significance of the project.

To do this, you should show its immediate and its lasting impact.

Benefits of a project may be related to the community, place or the environment.

For example, the number of Indigenous job opportunities the project has created.

There are many ways to demonstrate the benefits of a project in the nomination.

Use examples, data, figures, testimonials or metrics that will demonstrate its benefits.

For example, you may provide testimonials from communities that show benefits from an Indigenous point of view, or you may provide evidence for how the profits from the project are impacting communities.

Tip: Cultural respect and project integrity

It's important in your nomination that you show respect for cultural authority and demonstrate how governance has shaped the project's integrity and outcomes.

This can be done by describing how decisions were made, who was involved and how cultural protocols and responsibilities were upheld.

We recommend you include multiple attachments of supporting evidence.

For example, you can include attachments that show evidence of the moral and intellectual right of the individual, team or community group to build on and apply the knowledge systems being used in the project.

Confirmation that the collective cultural responsibility and rights of the knowledge systems have been respected.

Support from a relevant cultural authority.

Documentation of respectful connection with communities and/or place.

If the nominee is associated with the university, include an agreement between the associated university and the cultural authority owners.

And finally, the application of codes of ethics for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander research.

Tip: Have someone review the nomination

And here's our final tip.

Before submitting your nomination, get a fresh set of eyes on your nomination.

Ask a trusted colleague, a mentor or a friend to read through your nomination.

A quick review can make a big difference.

A fresh set of eyes can help spot typos or unclear wording that you might have missed.

Make sure your message is consistent and compelling.

Confirm that you've answered all parts of the assessment criteria, and finally, they can provide feedback on tone and impact.

Remember, once the nomination is submitted, you cannot correct a mistake.

Summary of tips

To summarise, a strong nomination will be built in partnership with the nominee.

A strong nomination will also link the project directly to the assessment criteria, provide specific examples as well as data and other metrics to backup claims, be specific about the Indigenous Knowledges that have been used in the project, and include multiple attachments to demonstrate how cultural protocols and responsibilities were upheld.

A strong nomination will describe the project's past, present and future, the project's significance and how decisions were made, who was involved, and how cultural protocols and responsibilities were upheld.

Questions and answers

Bridgette Byrne

So we've now reached the Q and A portion of today's webinar.

I'd like to invite my colleague Claudia to join me on screen again.

I'd also like to invite you to submit questions that you might have via Slido.

So there's a QR code on the screen that you can scan in order to take you to the page to lodge your questions or there's also a link on this page that you can use to also join.

So we have covered a lot of information today.

So feel free to ask any questions that can help clarify anything for you.

If you are thinking of a question, someone else is probably thinking of the same question.

So please go ahead and ask.

We're here to help and to make sure everything is as clear as possible.

So please don't hesitate to ask. While everyone's thinking about their questions.

One question we often get asked is what if I'm having technical issues and I can't submit by the deadline?

What do I do?

Claudia, do you have any advice if nominators experience technical issues?

Claudia Stein

Thank you, Bridgette.

So there's a contact us page on the business.gov.au web page which gives you several options to get in touch with us.

Either it's a phone number, you can email or there's a live chat.

My recommendation is do it as soon as possible.

If you experience problems, let us know as soon as possible so we can work with you.

Don't leave your submission until the last minute.

If there's anything hindering you in submitting, try to do it earlier so we have more time to help you.

But we will be working with you to resolve the issues.

Bridgette Byrne

Great, Thanks Claudia.

I'm just going to go over to Slido now and see what questions that we have that we can answer.

OK, so we have our first question.

Will all applications above 50% go to Stage 2?

If not, how many will go forward and how many were considered in Stage 2 last year?

This is a really good question.

And so all nominations are referred to an independent committee of experts, and this committee will consider nominations based on its merits.

So based on how well it meets the criteria and how it compares to other nominations, it is up to the committee to determine how many nominations will go forward to Stage 2.

And unfortunately, I can't disclose how many nominations were considered in Stage 2 last year, but the committee makes the assessment and judges which nominations will proceed to Stage 2.

Claudia, do you have anything else to add to that?

Does that kind of cover that?

Claudia Stein

I just want to clarify the 50% referred to, you need to make sure you're strong across each of the assessment criteria.

If you score below 50% in on one of the criteria, your nomination will not be able to progress.

That was the point that we were trying to make.

Bridgette Byrne

Great.

Thanks for that clarification.

Hopefully that clears that up for you.

We have another question here about the committee.

Can a member of the selection committee nominate or be a supporter or a referee?

Claudia, do you have any insights on this one?

Claudia Stein

We recommend that that is not the case.

So we will ask, we will check all our assessments committee members for conflicts of interest and if they are that close to a nomination, we would consider this as a conflict of interest.

So we would not recommend that, and we would probably approach the committee member and the nominator if that were the case to resolve and possibly change supporters.

Bridgette Byrne

Great, thank you.

And next question is about knowledge systems.

So can I submit an application for a national knowledge system not specific to an individual community?

This is a really great question.

So and I want to get the detail right for you.

So what I'm going to do is I'm going to take this question offline and come back to you with a specific response after the webinar.

And so we'll clarify this for you.

But we, we encourage nominations from across Australia covering different community groups and different knowledge systems.

And so yeah, we would encourage you to submit that nomination, but we will come back to you with a more specific answer to that specific scenario after the webinar.

So we've got another question here related to community.

So how does the department receive nominees if they are not a member of the specific Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community where their impact has been made?

Again, I want to get this detail right, so I'll come back to you with a more specific answer after the webinar.

But what I would say if you're nominating a community group, you can do so. 

There I would just refer you to the grant opportunity guidelines.

There's some detail in there about how many people you can include on your nomination from a community group.

Claudia, do you have any more information about how many people they can write on their nomination form if they are nominating a community group?

Claudia Stein

We allow for up to 4 representatives for a community group to be nominated.

Bridgette Byrne

Great.

And then on that, on that question, we'll come to you.

Come to you with more specific information after the webinar on that one.

So I have a question here about the assessment criteria.

So is there a criteria related to science?

So you can go and read the assessment criteria for this prize in the grant opportunity guidelines.

So in those guidelines it outlines the three assessment criteria for this prize.

So there's a question.

The first assessment criteria is demonstrated practice of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledge systems.

The second criteria is demonstrated benefit and the third criteria is demonstrated cultural governance, and you can go and read in more detail each of those assessment criteria.

I'm just pausing there to see if we have any more questions.

Our next question is around feedback.

So are we, which I think is us as the department, are we able to provide specific feedback on an application submitted last year?

Claudia, do you have any advice on whether we can provide feedback on a nomination for 2025?

Claudia Stein

We send out general feedback from the assessment committee on all nominations that were submitted, but I don't think we have the ability to provide dedicated feedback to an individual nomination.

Bridgette Byrne

Thank you.

Our next question is about Ranger led projects.

So the question is can a representative from a Ranger led project be nominated?

If the Ranger group is part of a government organisation, can the prize money go to the project?

Again, this is a question I want to give you some more specific detail offline because it's a very specific scenario.

But what I would say is that this prize will be awarded to an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait under led project that benefits Australian Indigenous peoples and communities or place.

So what we'll do for that specific scenario is to get you more relevant advice.

And the next question again goes to knowledge systems.

So can a nominee who works to include multiple knowledge systems be nominated or does the nominee need to practice just one knowledge systems?

So if you were to take a look at the grant opportunity guidelines and have a look at Section 2.2, there is a description in there about knowledge systems.

And what it says is that knowledge systems are formed by the ways of being, knowing and doing of the diverse cultures of Indigenous peoples.

They are continually developing and maintained through ongoing observations, predictions, interpretations, questionings and understandings of our world.

Through an enduring connection with communities and place over thousands of years.

So what I would do is I suggest you reflect on that paragraph and how it relates to your specific nomination that you're thinking about.

I'll get you more specific information after this webinar, but it's up to you to determine the inclusion of multiple knowledge systems and make sure that you describe that appropriately as we went into in this webinar, and make sure that you have the cultural governance and sensitivities in place in order to address assessment criteria 3.

So the next question is can a boss or a co-worker get selected?

So I'm going to assume for the purpose of this question you're asking about a team or a community group.

So can a boss or a co-worker in a team or community group be nominated for this as a nominee?

We went through some of the criteria around being a nominee.

So a nominee must be an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander person, be an individual, a member of a team or a representative of a community group.

It's up to you and your team and your community group to determine who are the four individuals written on the nomination in order to represent your team or community group.

Our next question goes to community group.

So can the entire community be a supporting representative for the nomination? Claudia, does a supporter have to be an individual?

Claudia Stein

That is a very good question.

If you look at the guidelines, we need in the guidelines and the form.

The form asks for contact details for a person.

So concept wise, I think we are going off that is the supporter is an individual.

But I may also take this one on notice and come back with a more detailed response to that one.

Bridgette Byrne

Yeah, we'll do that.

We have a question here around I think it's going to cultural governance and respecting Knowledges and knowledge systems.

And so, you know, there's a specific assessment criteria as part of this prize around demonstrating the cultural governance of the project.

So all nominations need to describe the respectful adherence to cultural governance protocols to demonstrate legitimacy and the significance of the project as well as the project's authority to protect, use and share the knowledge systems in accordance with the cultural authority owner’s direction and systems to facilitate cultural governance.

So as we went into earlier on, we recommend including multiple attachments in order to demonstrate that.

So, Claudia we have a question around attachments.

So are the attachments just for Stage 2?

Claudia Stein

So if you check section 6.3.1 of the guidelines, it will actually tell you which attachments we require at Stage 1 and Stage 2.

And for Stage 1, it is just the background and experience statement, which is the written description of the nominees, for a team for each nominee, for community group, one for the community group which needs to be attached.

Any additional attachments will not be considered at Stage 1.

But for Stage 2, we invite a more detailed nomination, and you will have the opportunity to provide those, those kind of details as attachments.

Bridgette Byrne

Our next question again is about the impacts and outcomes of the work that someone is looking to recognise through a nomination.

So the question is, is it necessary that the impacts and outcomes contribute to Western science?

Can the impact be focused exclusively on strengthening Indigenous knowledge systems themselves?

So yeah, as I described before, the prize will be awarded to an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander led project that benefits Australian Indigenous peoples, communities or place and contributes to solving a significant challenge through the practice and preservation of knowledge systems.

So interpreting that paragraph with your question, you can take a look at what impacts and outcomes your work has done to the knowledge systems relevant to people's communities or place.

So we're coming close to time, so I'm just going to check whether there's any more questions.

OK.

Looks like we've reached the end of our questions in Slido.

First of all, thank you so much for submitting those questions.

Some really fantastic questions from you all today.

I've made a list of all the questions that us as a department will come back to you on.

There's some really specific questions to that goes to the specificity of your nominations and the projects you're working on and the work of the nominees.

So what we'll do is we'll take those offline and get you answers as soon as we can after this webinar.

So you can submit your nomination really quickly over the next couple weeks.

So thank you so much for those questions.

I'm going to hand back now to Bianka.

Help with your nomination

Bianka Skiller 

As Bridgette and Claudia have explained, we are here to support you through this process.

So if you haven't done so already, we encourage you to start your nomination and contact us if you need any help.

So there are a number of ways that you can access support by going to business.gov.au

You will find a contact us page for help, now you can use.

You can call us and use the listed phone number 13 28 46.

You may also email us through the website form or use the live chat function.

So please reach out to us if we can help in any way.

As Claudia also mentioned earlier, to support you in the preparation of your nomination, we encourage you to use the ‘Additional advice for responding to assessment criteria’ document.

Again, this document can be found at business.gov.au/ knowledge systems prize.

Further information

Bianka Skiller 

We encourage you to consider nominating someone as a nomination is an important acknowledgement of their contributions.

And if you want to learn more about all of the other prizes or all prizes, go to industry.gov.au/ PM prizes.

There are only a couple of weeks left until nominations close.

So remember to nominate someone for the Knowledge Systems Prize, go to business.gov.au/knowledge systems prize and make sure to submit your complete nomination by 5:00 pm AEDT on the 18th of December.

Again, thank you for joining us today.

We will now close the webinar with final thoughts from Professor Michael Wear.

Nomination video

Professor Michael Wear

The Prize for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Knowledge Systems is important because it includes Indigenous people in the conversation and in the practice of science and traditional knowledge.

If you can see the hard work that the people are doing in this space, nominate them.

I’m very humble to be the first.

It's a special feeling taking on responsibility to make sure you're not the last.

Nominate now for the Prime Minister's Prize for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledge systems.