Prof Nakata

Prof Nakata is Deputy Vice-Chancellor Indigenous Education & Strategy at James Cook University. He is a leading Indigenous academic in Australia, and the first Torres Strait Islander to graduate with a PhD.

His mother is a traditional owner of islands in a remote region of Australia and his dad was born in Japan. He grew up in the islands where he did all his schooling years and has an intimate understanding of the languages and customs of the Torres Strait Islander people.

He has had an extensive academic career in the fields of Indigenous education, Indigenous Studies, and Indigenous Knowledge. His current research work includes two longitudinal studies of the academic preparation of Indigenous students for university studies, and the academic performance of Indigenous school students in Math and Science.

He has presented over seventy plenary and keynote addresses at professional conferences in Iceland, Norway, Scotland, Greece, South Africa, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, Canada, United States, Peru, Aotearoa (NZ) and Australia, and has published extensively on Australian Indigenous education issues in national and international academic journals, anthologies, and books.

He has been the co-editor of the Australian Journal of Indigenous Education for the past ten years, and continues to serve on editorial boards of academic journals in several countries as well as in Australia.