Workshops

This workshop will assist to identify and explain Intellectual Property (IP) and Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property (ICIP) considerations associated with initiatives aimed at promoting biodiversity. It will address the cultural considerations when engaging with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander individuals and communities, biological resources and ICIP.

It will provide an overview of IP and ICIP as well as discuss relevant issues within a biodiversity research context, including the Convention on Biological Diversity and Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefits Sharing, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and best practice, particularly concerning the collection, access and use (including development and sale) of native resources and associated ICIP.

The workshops will include case studies informed by practical examples.

Embedding IP, ICIP and cultural considerations within institution and researcher practice ensures respectful and appropriate engagement with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander individuals and communities and their ICIP, enhancing cultural competency of the sector.

Our True Tracks® Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property workshops are designed to assist First Nations organisations and businesses, and organisations and businesses working with First Nations people and communities to recognise and develop an understanding of the interaction between Western IP laws and ICIP, and how ICIP should be used, managed and protected in day-to-day service provision.

Indigenous Cultural & Intellectual Property (ICIP) refers to the rights of First Nations people to their cultural heritage based on the fundamental right of self-determination. ICIP rights incorporate all aspects of traditional knowledge, cultural expressions and practices, ecological and environmental knowledge, bushfoods, language, arts & crafts, dance, song, stories, sites, ceremonial practices, ancestral remains and recordings and data collected about the same (known as Indigenous Data Sovereignty).

The workshop educates participants on the legal aspects of IP and ICIP, and methods for protection of ICIP through best practice protocols and IP and contract law and can be tailored to address specific issues faced by attendees of the Biodiversity Conference. Looking at case studies that offer real life examples of ICIP uses and missteps in the biological resource and research sectors, as well as strategies for best practice engagement with First Nations people and their ICIP, participants will gain a stronger understanding of how to identify ICIP and the considerations involved in the protection, management and sharing of ICIP.

The workshop includes the True Tracks® Ten Principles developed by Terri Janke and Company, which provide a framework to follow when engaging with First Nations people and collecting, accessing and using ICIP, and can form the basis for development of best practice ICIP protocols for organisations, businesses and projects.

Tell Your Story Right: DOs, Don’ts and (FREE) Tools in Science Communication for Researchers

Today, more than ever before, we are required to communicate results of our work and career experiences to the policymakers, end users and media, including clients, industry and the public. Effectively taking your message across to these parties not only increases the on-ground implications and impact of your work, but also affects future opportunities, as well as your reputation within your field of work and industry. This intensive and interactive workshop discusses proven strategies for developing and delivering effective oral and visual science communications in an engaging manner. It also introduces you to several free and innovative tools available for science communication.

‘galah’ is an open-source software package now available in Python to source data from biodiversity informatics facilities, such as the Atlas of Living Australia (ALA) and the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). While this information is commonly used in a range of research applications – particularly those focussed on understanding past and future species distributions – it can be difficult for users to filter the large amount of available information to the subset required to answer their particular question. In this workshop we will introduce ‘galah’, and demonstrate the features it supports for summarizing and filtering data on particular taxa, locations, or from specific providers or data resources. This will be useful both for researchers new to the Python programming environment wishing to learn the basics, and for more experienced researchers to understand the range of data types available from the ALA.

The workshop will consist of an introductory presentation, followed by a series of worked examples. Attendees must bring their own laptop.