Dr Lisa Watts
Community Engagement Leader
About Lisa
Dr Lisa Watts (MA (hons), PhD) has worked in the remote Indigenous communities of the Northern Territory for thirty years, specialising in applied research across education, political ecology, social and emotional wellbeing, community development and social enterprise. In 2000 at Charles Darwin University, Lisa co-authored, the first joint masters in an Australian University and possibly the world with Simon Fisher, a Warlpiri leader from Yuendumu. In 2009, Lisa completed her doctoral studies at the University of Melbourne in political ecology, which focussed on Indigenous access to perennial water sources on leased lands. She has worked on a number of engagement projects, collaborating with multi-government stakeholders, institutions and agencies, the Warlpiri, Anmatyerre peoples and the Yugul Mangi collective, influencing policy on water management.
In earlier years, Lisa facilitated the establishment of the Central Australian Stolen Generations & Families Aboriginal Corporation (CASG&FAC) based in Alice Springs NT. She has edited a vast range of publications while contributing to its research, including The Indomitable Miss Pink by Julie Marcus. Lisa is also an accomplished film producer, writer, director and producer of three films screened nationally and internationally Sammy Butcher: Out of the Shadows, Mer Rrkwer-akert (Brooks Soak Country) and Big Name No Blanket, which attained National Documentary Program statusand received a jury award from the FIFO International Documentary Festival, Tahiti.
