Biography
Dr Indigo Willing (she/her) is a researcher in the humanities and social sciences and co-founder of award-winning community projects. Her theoretical, empirical and creative work examines issues of power and social change and spans a number of social worlds that reflect her own diverse background and lived experiences as a Vietnam War orphan and adoptee, an Asian Australian creative, academic and skateboarder. She is currently the Co-Convenor of the TASA Sport and Leisure Thematic Group (2024 - 2026).
Indigo was awarded a PhD in sociology from The University of Queensland and is an Adjunct Research Fellow at the Griffith Centre for Social and Cultural Research at Griffith University. In 2024 she will begin a James Social Science Fellowship at The University of Sydney at The Sydney Social Sciences and Humanities Advanced Research Centre (SSSHARC). She is also a former Rockefeller Fellow, UMASS, Boston, recipient of a Yale University SEAS conference travel grant, an Australian Academy of the Humanities Traveling Fellow scholarship recipient to do research in Sweden, and was a Post-Doctoral Fellow for an Australian Research Council Discovery Project. Indigo has co-founded various community projects that have received international recognition, grants, and awards including with the Vietnamese diaspora and most recently, also in the skateboarding world. As a lecturer, she teaches in the areas of sociology, creative industries, and qualitative research methods.
Representative Grants and Industry and Commercial Research
Grant – TASA’s Gary Bouma Workshop Program funding for ‘Skate, Create, Educate and Regenerate: Pushing for Playful, Healthy and Inclusive Cities’ Workshop and Symposium to be held at the Sydney Social Sciences and Humanities Advanced Research Centre (SSSHARC), The University of Sydney. Principal Investigators Dr Indigo Willing, Dr Sanné Mestrom and Assoc. Professor Lian Loke. Awarded Dec 2023 for programs in Jan and Oct in 2024. https://skatecreateeducateandregenerate.com/
Principal Co-Investigator – Research Consultancy: ‘National Anti-Racism Framework Project – Scoping research on anti-Asian racism and role of the national human rights institution’, Australian Human Rights Commission. Team Principal Co-Investigators: Dr Indigo Willing, Dr Kasun Ubayasiri, Dr Eun-ji Amy Kim. Research Fellows/Assistants: Dr Carl Anacin, Dr Aaron Teo and Erin Wen Ai Chew. 30 September – 30 December 2023. https://humanrights.gov.au/our-work/race-discrimination/projects/national-anti-racism-framework
Grant – Adoptee Rolling Out Skateboarding Program, Community Grant Award, Sponsored by Relationships Australia, Project leader: Dr Indigo Willing. October 2022 – June 2023. https://icafss.org.au/funding-update-may-2022-round/
Principal Investigator – Research Consultancy, Skateboarding Australia. Rolling Free: Exploring Leadership, Inclusion and Diversity in Skating’ project. Funded by a Sports Australia Women Leadership in Sport (WILS) grant. Principal Investigator: Dr Indigo Willing. Co-Investigators: Dr Adele Pavlidis and Professor Simon Fullagar. March 2022 to December 2022. https://prodsurvey.rcs.griffith.edu.au/prodls200/index.php/295557?lang=en
Grant – Griffith Gender and Equity Network (GERN) Seed Grant, Griffith University. Chief Investigator: Dr Indigo Willing, Co-Investigators: Associate Professor Molly Dragiewicz, Dr Adele Pavlidis and Dr Justine Hottem. Grant awarded for the project ‘Red Flags, Banter and Blurred Lines: Exploring Consent in Sport’, Awarded for January 2022 to December 2022. https://www.griffith.edu.au/research/gender-equality-research-network/research-empowerment
Grant – Traveling Fellowship Grant from The Australian Academy of the Humanities to do research in Sweden https://humanities.org.au/grants-and-awards/humanities-travelling-fellowships/
Grant – Griffith University travel grant to do research with the Finnish Youth Research Network, Helskinki, Finland, 2015
Grant – Elizabeth Usher Memorial Grant from the University of Queensland Alumni to present research in Pittsburg, USA, 2007 https://alumni.uq.edu.au/endowed-uq-awards-established-conjunction-alumni-friends
Grant – Diversity Week Grant awarded by the University of Queensland (UQ) Equity Office to produce the Asian Australian Occasion Film Festival in partnership with the UQ Humanities and Social Sciences Library, 2007
Scholarship – Australian Post-Graduate Scholarship Award, Australian Federal Government, grant to conduct 3 years PhD research, 2005 – 2010
Selected Participant, Harvard Project for Asia and International Relations (HPAIR) Workshops, 2001.
Grant – International Travel Grant from Yale University to co-present research with Linh Song at the inaugural SEAS Conference, New Haven, USA. 2000
Representative Awards
1st Place, Best Non-Profit or Social Project Award, Skate Like a Girl Awards for the team project Consent is Rad (tied/equal first place with Nations Skate Youth) – 6 April 2023. Nominees here. Ceremony on Youtube
Finalist/Nominated for Inspirational Person of the Year Award category, Skate Like a Girl Awards’ – 6 April 2023. Nominees here. Ceremony on Youtube
3rd Place. Pushing Against Racism Community Grant Award, The Goodpush Alliance, June to December 2022 https://www.goodpush.org/blog/announcing-pushing-against-racism-fund-grantees
2nd Place for ‘Consent is Rad’, Skate Rising Award for Skateboarding Community Projects, Exposure Skate, November 2021 https://www.exposureskate.org/exposure-x-full-results/
Medal in the Order of Australia (OAM) for volunteer work with the Vietnamese community in 2006. Awarded in 2006 for her volunteering with adopted Vietnamese children from the war/refugee generation and founding the Adopted Vietnamese International (AVI) community. Indigo returned it as a stance of support with LGBTIAQ+ against Margaret Court receiving the highest award, and in recognition of Survival Day for First Nations communities in 2021.