Professor Gina Heathcote, Leverhulme Trust International Fellow

What will your research seek to do?

The research develops a model for two-way legal research through learning from two-way science projects and Indigenous saltwater leadership in the Kimberley region of the continent of Australia.

Through learning from Indigenous saltwater governance structures the project considers the possibilities for international law on the sea through place-based learning. 

How have you found your first year?

The first year has involved two periods of fieldwork and significant periods of training, including participation on ‘The Silent History’ and ‘The Cultural and Spiritual Life of Aboriginal Peoples’ modules and a professional development course titled ‘Two-way Research Methodologies’.

My periods in the field have been hosted by the Nulungu Research Institute, University of Notre Dame Australia and have incorporated time on-country and learning from Traditional Owners, as well as preliminary meetings with the Indigenous Saltwater Advisory Group. 

What have you got planned for the year ahead? 

I return to the field in June 2026 and will be conducting interviews with Traditional Owners and saltwater leaders, as well as working closely with cultural advisors to check and re-check the best ways to reflect Aboriginal peoples’ knowledge in the research.

I will present the research at the Australia and New Zealand Society of International Law in July, alongside my co-author Lloyd Pigram. Finally, I will start writing my book, The Impossibility of Decolonial Law. 

Now that you have started your Fellowship, what advice would you give to someone starting something similar?

I am really glad that I had shaped the first year of research as a period of learning and preliminary meetings with the research partners.

I also had the opportunity to return to the field in January 2026 and this was immensely helpful – return visits, even if short, really help consolidate the relationships with research partners and offer an opportunity for ‘looking back’ and checking knowledge, which is extremely important when working with communities that are unfamiliar.