The Remedy Project: Exploring Implications for Strength- and Culture-based Social Work and Health and Wellbeing Promotion

VCU’s Global Education Office and the School of Social Work invite you to a lecture and reception with Dr. Naomi Sunderland of Griffith University in Australia on Friday, March 22 from 3-4:30 PM (with reception to follow) in the Academic Learning Commons room 2100. Professor Naomi Sunderland will share findings and research approaches from a three-year study funded by the Australian Research Council, “The Remedy Project: First Nations Music as a Determinant of Health.”

Dr. Sunderland is currently a visiting senior Fulbright scholar at the University of New Mexico and her visit to VCU has been funded with generous support of the Fulbright Visiting Lecture Fund.

The Remedy Project honors the role of musical engagement and participation as a natural “remedy” in cultural healing and ceremony that has happened over Millennia in First Nations communities across Australia, Aotearoa New Zealand, and Vanuatu. It reflects the ongoing strength and advocacy of First Nations music and musicians despite historical and contemporary colonization. Dr Sunderland will invite workshop attendees to engage with the project findings and discuss implications for international social work and interdisciplinary health and wellbeing promotion. See www.remedyproject.org for more background to the project.

Dr Naomi Sunderland is a member of the School of Health Sciences and Social Work and Creative Arts Research Institute at Griffith University. Naomi is a proud descendant of the Wiradjuri First Nations People of Australia alongside her mixed European heritage. She has an extensive research and publishing record in arts-health, well-being, and First Nations social justice with a particular focus on creative, anti-oppressive, and trauma-informed research approaches. Naomi taught in the First Peoples and Social Justice team at Griffith University from 2014 specializing in transformative learning and teaching, cultural and social health determinants, and anti-oppressive practice. She was awarded an Australian Research Council Fellowship (2021-2024) to study the effect of First Nations’ music on social and cultural determinants of health and a Fulbright Senior Scholar award (2024) to develop collective music making for collective healing at the University of New Mexico. Naomi is a singer-songwriter and community music facilitator. She has a PhD in applied ethics and human rights from the Queensland University of Technology.

Dr. Sunderland’s lecture will be held on Friday, March 22, 2024 from 3-4:30 in the Academic Learning Commons (1000 Floyd Ave.) in room 2100 with a reception to follow.

VCU’s Global Education Office and the School of Social Work invite you to a lecture and reception with Dr. Naomi Sunderland of Griffith University in Australia on Friday, March 22 from 3-4:30 PM (with reception to follow) in the Academic Learning Commons room 2100. Professor Naomi Sunderland will share findings and research approaches from a three-year study funded by the Australian Research Council, “The Remedy Project: First Nations Music as a Determinant of Health.”

Dr. Sunderland is currently a visiting senior Fulbright scholar at the University of New Mexico and her visit to VCU has been funded with generous support of the Fulbright Visiting Lecture Fund.

The Remedy Project honors the role of musical engagement and participation as a natural “remedy” in cultural healing and ceremony that has happened over Millennia in First Nations communities across Australia, Aotearoa New Zealand, and Vanuatu. It reflects the ongoing strength and advocacy of First Nations music and musicians despite historical and contemporary colonization. Dr Sunderland will invite workshop attendees to engage with the project findings and discuss implications for international social work and interdisciplinary health and wellbeing promotion. See www.remedyproject.org for more background to the project.

Dr Naomi Sunderland is a member of the School of Health Sciences and Social Work and Creative Arts Research Institute at Griffith University. Naomi is a proud descendant of the Wiradjuri First Nations People of Australia alongside her mixed European heritage. She has an extensive research and publishing record in arts-health, well-being, and First Nations social justice with a particular focus on creative, anti-oppressive, and trauma-informed research approaches. Naomi taught in the First Peoples and Social Justice team at Griffith University from 2014 specializing in transformative learning and teaching, cultural and social health determinants, and anti-oppressive practice. She was awarded an Australian Research Council Fellowship (2021-2024) to study the effect of First Nations’ music on social and cultural determinants of health and a Fulbright Senior Scholar award (2024) to develop collective music making for collective healing at the University of New Mexico. Naomi is a singer-songwriter and community music facilitator. She has a PhD in applied ethics and human rights from the Queensland University of Technology.

Dr. Sunderland’s lecture will be held on Friday, March 22, 2024 from 3-4:30 in the Academic Learning Commons (1000 Floyd Ave.) in room 2100 with a reception to follow.