Professor Cheryl Kickett-Tucker is a highly respected Traditional Owner, academic and community development practitioner.  She is a proud Wadjuk Noongar Aboriginal from Western Australia with traditional ties to Ballardong and Yued tribal peoples.  Cheryl has worked with Australian Aboriginal people all her life in the fields of education, sport and health and is very passionate about using her research to make a real difference to the lives of Aboriginal children and their families.
As well as completing her PhD (Edith Cowan University, Perth), Cheryl also has a Master of Science (University of Oregon, USA), a Bachelor of Applied Science (Edith Cowan University, Perth) and an Associate Diploma of Applied Science (Edith Cowan University, Perth).
Prof Kickett-Tucker is the chief editor of award winning text book Mia Mia Aboriginal Community Development: Fostering Cultural Security published by Cambridge University Press and is an emerging children’s fiction author.  She is a very keen amateur photographer who likes to capture the strengths and positive elements of being Aboriginal.

Professor Kickett-Tucker has received numerous awards including 2019 Australian of the Year WA Local Hero, 2003  Australian Society of Authors’ Indigenous Mentorship Program, Redfern, NSW, National NAIDOC Scholar of the Year in 2001, WA NAIDOC Scholar of the Year in 2001, WA NAIDOC Sportswoman of the Year in 1992,  Black Women’s Action Group In Education Foundation (now Roberta Sykes Foundation) Scholarship 1992, Certificate of Recognition, Global Education Project, Office of International Services, University of Oregon, USA 1992, Kurongkurl Katitjin Inaugural Post Graduate Scholarship, School of Indigenous Australian Studies, Edith Cowan University; Edith Cowan University Postgraduate Scholarship, WA and Queens Trust Award for Young Australians, WA on 2 separate occasions in 1992 and 1995. Recently, her research and community projects have been awarded the following: 2018 Midland NAIDOC Awards Service Provider of the Year, Koya Aboriginal Corporation, 2018 Western Australia Industry Awards 2018, Finalist, Supporting Volunteers Award, Koya Aboriginal Corporation, 2017    Educational Publishing Awards Australia, Winner, Tertiary (Wholly Australian) Scholarly Resource, Mia Mia Aboriginal Community Development: Fostering Cultural Security, Kickett-Tucker, C. Coffin, J. Bessarab, D. Wright, M. (Eds).  Cambridge University Press, 2013 WA Department for Communities, Children’s Week WA, Communities Award for Metropolitan Project Award “Connecting Culture, Curriculum and Community in Early Years Aboriginal Education,” and in 2010 , The Injury Control Council of WA Outstanding Achievement Award for “Solid Kids, Solid Schools” Perth, WA and the WA Department for Communities, Children’s Week WA, Communities Award, Highly Commended “IRISE: Racial Identity and Self-Esteem project,” 
Cheryl has also competed in elite level sports as a member of the Australia National Women’s Basketball League and the Western Australian State Basketball League as a player and coach for 20 years and has been a Western Australian representative in the Australian National Junior Basketball Championships. She has been inducted into the Sports Hall of Fame at Governor Stirling Senior High School where she attended as a student.
Cheryl’s commitment to community development is important to her and she currently is a voluntary member of the Board of Directors of Koya Aboriginal Corporation, a local not for profit Aboriginal controlled and owned community organisation in Midland, WA.

She is currently an Australian Research Council Fellow at Curtin University and is the Founding Director of Pindi Pindi Pty Ltd- Centre for Research Excellence in Aboriginal Wellbeing.  Cheryl also holds the following positions:
•    Adjunct Professor, School of Medicine, Notre Dame University
•    Adjunct Associate Professor, Centre for Child Health Research, The University of Western Australia
•    Honorary Research Fellow, Telethon Institute for Child Health Research
•    Honorary Consultant, Indigenous Health InfoNet