THE PROGRAM
ABOUT
CONNECTING
CULTURES
Every year, social work students graduate and enter Aboriginal Communities without ever having set foot on Country. Connecting Cultures was built to change that.
OVERVIEW
ABOUT THE PROGRAM
Connecting Cultures is an Australian Research Council-funded initiative that gives social work students immersive, safe-to-fail experiences with simulated First Nations Community members before they undertake fieldwork.
Through virtual reality simulations and contextual eLearning, students practise culturally responsive engagement in realistic on-Country scenarios. They make decisions, encounter consequences, reflect, and try again in an environment where mistakes become learning, not harm.
The program is grounded in a single, driving purpose: to increase cultural responsiveness in social work students to reduce real-world harm to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities.
When students complete this program, they will have experienced what it means to listen before speaking, to follow before leading, and to understand that being on Country is a privilege that carries responsibility.
OVERVIEW
PROJECT LEADERSHIP
PROFESSOR BINDI BENNETT
PROFESSORIAL RESEARCH FELLOW — FEDERATION UNIVERSITY AUSTRALIA
Professor Bindi Bennett (she/her) is a K/Gamilaroi woman, mother, and social worker and is a Professorial Research Fellow at Federation University living, playing and working on Jinibara lands. She is a social justice scholar, a compassionate radical and activist requesting transformational change. Her research areas are disability/neurodivergence, Remote, Rural and Regional Aboriginal wellbeing and AI in the First Nations space.
THE TEAM
THE CREATIVE TEAM
WORDOLOGY SOLUTIONS
The learning design and project management of Connecting Cultures is led by Aneeta Menon, Learning Director at Wordology Solutions. Wordology Solutions is a boutique instructional design and eLearning consultancy specialising in trauma-informed, culturally responsive, and complex-sector learning design.
Wordology has worked in close collaboration with Professor Bennett, the project team, and the Aboriginal community members who co-designed the program throughout every phase of its development.
LEARNING DESIGN
MAXART
VR DEVELOPMENT
MAXART, led by Peter Clowes, is an Australian applied technology company delivering AI, XR, robotics, simulation, and digital twin solutions for enterprise and government. With extensive experience in VR training development, MAXART has built immersive simulation programs for organisations including Energy Queensland, Coles, and Volkswagen.
For Connecting Cultures, MAXART led the development of the virtual reality simulations, building the on-Country environments, character simulations, and branching scenario interactions that sit at the heart of the program.
2026 PILOT
THE PILOT
Connecting Cultures is being piloted across six universities nationally, commencing Semester 2, 2026.
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University of Western Sydney
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Federation University Australia
