The Lisa Bellear PhD scholarship is granted to a promising Indigenous Australian researcher wishing to undertake a graduate research degree.
Applicants for the Lisa Bellear Indigenous Research Scholarship must:
- be Australian citizens, or have been granted permanent resident status (this includes New Zealand citizens who are granted permanent residency status on arrival)
- be an Aboriginal person or Torres Strait Islander.
Value
- Annual stipend value: $40,000 per year (2023 rate)
- Tuition fees: covered by the Research Training Program
About Lisa Bellear
Lisa Bellear (1961-2006) was a Goernpil woman of the Noonuccal people of the Minjerribah, Queensland. She was a poet, photographer, activist, dramatist, comedian, broadcaster and academic. She lost her mother and connection to her family when she was only weeks old and overcame some of her personal grief and loss through her 'adoption' into the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community in Victoria, particularly the Harding family. She traced her biological family and went on to be an accomplished, caring and strong woman. Lisa was passionate about social change, she was always participating and contributing to campaigns and protests and always out on the streets with her camera.
Lisa graduated from The University of Melbourne in social work and was employed as an academic at The University of Melbourne, LaTrobe University and Victoria University. She wrote a book of poetry Dreaming in Urban Areas (UQP, 1996) and was a founding member of the Ilbijerri Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Theatre Co-operative, the oldest Indigenous Theatre company in Australia. An avid photographer, Lisa took thousands of photographs over many years while she engaged in Aboriginal politics. She read at literary festivals, pubs and conferences across Australia and was published in literary journals, newspapers and anthologies. She broadcast on 3CR in the Not Another Koori Show for more than 20 years.
She was a friend, colleague and staunch supporter of the Moondani Balluk Indigenous Academic Unit and her skills and expertise are carried on through the VU graduates that she taught and mentored in the Bachelor of Education/Arts (Nyerna Studies) program.
Lisa herself best summed up the demands and gift of her poetry: “You can allow your eyes and heart to see. See the injustice, cruelty; and you can also hear the laughter and the love.”
