Dr Chelsea Watego

Associate Professor Chelsea Watego is a Munanjahli and South Sea Islander woman and a Principal Research Fellow within the School of Social Science at The University of Queensland. She has worked as an Aboriginal Health Worker and researcher in communities across south-east Queensland for the past 20 years with her work focused on interpreting and privileging Indigenous experiences of the health system, including critically examining the role of Aboriginal health workers, the narratives of Indigeneity produced within public health, and advocating for strength based community development approaches to Indigenous health promotion practice. Her current research supported by the Australian Research Council seeks to examine how race and racism operate within the health system in producing the persisting health disparities experienced by Indigenous peoples.

Associate Professor Watego is a board member of Inala Wangarra (an Indigenous community development association within her own community), and one half of the Wild Black Women on Brisbane’s 98.9FM and NITV’s The Point.