Governing with wisdom: Elders in Residence insights on advancing Indigenous self-determination in higher education

Indigenous Australian Elders have become increasingly prominent cultural leaders within universities, with Elders in Residence programs expanding across the sector over the past two decades. Despite policy recognition and strategic commitments to supporting these roles, limited research examines Elders’ lived experiences, aspirations for the sector, and authority within governance and reform processes. Reporting on findings from the first phase of an Australian Research Council funded study, Yarruwala: Complex Ecosystems of Indigenous Higher Education Leadership , this paper centres the insights of six Elders in Residence. Guided by Coates and colleagues’ (2022) Indigenous Institutional Theory, we analyse how systemic inequity and epistemic violence operate within contemporary university arrangements, fracturing Elders’ relational authority and constraining their enactment of Eldership. We present Elders’ recommendations and reimagined visions for the sector, which articulate a shift from symbolic inclusion to structural reform that embeds Elders’ leadership, knowledge systems, and relational ethics at the heart of institutional practice and decision-making. Our findings indicate that positioning Elders as central institutional actors strengthens governance and catalyses transformation toward justice-oriented futures and genuine self-determination in higher education. The study contributes empirical evidence to an under-researched area, advances theoretical understandings of Indigenous leadership within Western institutions, and identifies actionable approaches to support sector-wide reform.