Vice-President Indigenous Engagement, Professor Adrian Miller

The Indigenous Engagement Division provides strategic leadership and operational support in matters related to education, research, and engagement with Australian First Nations Peoples. It works across the University’s national footprint to:

• Embed First Nations history, culture, knowledge and principles within learning and teaching
• Deliver best-practice cultural competency advice and services
• Support First Nations students through targeted educational and community engagement strategies
• Drive inclusive, high-impact research that is informed by Indigenous priorities
• Strengthen university–community partnerships grounded in mutual respect and benefit
• Champion reconciliation through the development and implementation of CQUniversity’s Reconciliation Action Plans
• Guide cultural inclusion through strategic frameworks, policies, and workforce development.

The Division fosters a “whole-of-university” commitment to reconciliation by encouraging all staff and students to understand and enact their role in the process. Its work ensures that CQUniversity remains an inclusive, safe, respectful and responsive institution for First Nations students, staff, and communities.

Professor Adrian Miller is a proud Jirrbal man from North Queensland with a deep commitment to advancing positive outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Appointed as CQUniversity’s Vice-President, Indigenous Engagement in 2024, he brings a wealth of academic, research and leadership experience to the role.

Prior to this appointment, Professor Miller served as the University’s Deputy Vice-President and held the BMA Chair in Indigenous Engagement for more than six years. Under his leadership, CQUniversity has achieved a number of major milestones, including the implementation of its Innovate and Stretch Reconciliation Action Plans, the establishment of the Jawun Research Institute, and the development of the Jilbay First Nations Research Higher Degree Academy — the first of its kind in Australia.

Professor Miller plays a central role in university governance as a member of the CQUniversity Council and has led the creation of several strategic documents that guide First Nations education, research, workforce development and community engagement across the institution. These have included the First Nations Education and Student Success Strategy 2024–2028, the First Nations Research Strategy 2023–2028, the First Nations Workforce Strategy 2020 – 2025, First Nations Cultural Competency Framework and the First Nations Community Engagement: Industry Guide – Phase 1.

He is also an internationally recognised Public Health scholar, with research expertise in Indigenous health, infectious disease, immunology, and higher education. His work has attracted more than $30 million in competitive research funding and continues to inform both national and international policy — including groundbreaking research recently published in Nature, which will support novel influenza vaccine development for Indigenous populations globally.