(L-R) AIATSIS CEO Craig Ritchie; Director of the Pitt Rivers Museum, Dr Laura van Broekhoven; AIATSIS Chairperson Michael McDaniel ;and Pitt Rivers Museum Curator and Head of Research, Dr Christopher Morton.
The Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) has formalised two partnerships with prominent United Kingdom educational institutions.
Two Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) have been signed with Oxford University and King’s College London, stipulating agreements to collaborate in fields including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander collections management, cultural protocols, academic research and staff exchanges.
Chief Executive of AIATSIS, Craig Ritchie said the two partnerships represented an unprecedented level of global collaboration and knowledge exchange for AIATSIS.
“At Oxford University, our first project will be working closely with the Pitt Rivers Museum, which has one of the largest collections of Aboriginal Australian materials in the UK, while our initial focus at King’s College London will be a research-focused collaborative partnership with the Menzies Centre for Australian Studies,” Mr Ritchie said.
“Learning from each other’s strengths and expertise will be enormously beneficial for all parties.”
He said AIATSIS provided a national forum — a place for deep engagement, collaboration, dialogue and exchange.
“These partnerships are the latest components of a global strategy to bring together passion, knowledge and expertise creating powerfully transformative encounters with the cultures and heritage of First Australians,” Mr Ritchie said.
The latest partnerships follow an MoU AIATSIS signed with the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian in October last year.
