Dr Dave Kampers

Dr Dave Kampers is a researcher and educator with over 18 years’ experience working in Indigenous Studies and Indigenous Health. His academic and community-based work is grounded in long-standing engagement with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and a commitment to advancing culturally responsive education and research.

David previously held a position as Lecturer at the University of Wollongong and has taught across disciplines including health, medicine, and the humanities. His doctoral research explores the historical and cultural significance of Indigenous athletes in elite-level Australian sport, focusing on how their visibility has shaped national identity and challenged dominant narratives. While much of the existing scholarship highlights the role of sport within Indigenous communities, David’s work centres on the broader cultural impact of elite Indigenous athletes—examining how their presence has disrupted settler colonial assumptions and contributed to social and cultural change.

Set against the backdrop of Australia’s enduring ambivalence toward Indigenous peoples—where public celebration often coexists with systemic exclusion—his research provides a historically informed analysis of developments in the AFL, Cricket Australia, and Netball Australia. It identifies elite sport as both a contested space of racial tension and a powerful site for cultural transformation.