Sarah Bourke (she/her) is a medical anthropologist and Research Fellow with Yardhura Walani. She is a Gamilaroi, Jaru, and Gidja woman who was born and raised on Ngunnawal and Ngambri Country in Canberra.
Sarah completed her undergraduate studies at ANU in biological anthropology and psychology, before being awarded a John Monash Scholarship and a Roberta Sykes Scholarship to study for an MPhil in Medical Anthropology with Keble College at the University of Oxford in the UK. She was then awarded a Roberta Sykes Scholarship and a Chevening Scholarship to continue on at Oxford for a DPhil in Anthropology at St. John’s College. Her award-winning doctoral thesis utilised an Indigenist research framework to examine the historical, social, and political factors which influenced the development of Mayi Kuwayu, the National Study of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Wellbeing, and its emphasis on measuring cultural determinants of health.
Sarah is an ARC Fellow and the Study Director for Where We Belong: Connecting Indigenous identity and wellbeing in the city. She is an expert in Indigenous health and wellbeing research and policy in Australia and internationally, Indigenous data sovereignty and governance implementation, community-led research design, and qualitative research methods. Her work aims to highlight the ways in which Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and other Indigenous individuals, communities, and cultures thrive.
