On 20 June the winners of the ABC TOP 5 media residency were announced. We were delighted to learn that Dr Shauna Bostock, Indigenous research editor with the Australian Dictionary of Biography, was among the five humanities researchers selected for the program.

'One of the major goals of my research has been to counteract national lack of knowledge about the lived experience of Aboriginal people in history, and when I saw their advertisement, I jumped at the chance to win a place at the ABC TOP5 (Humanities) Media Residency,' writes Shauna.

'To be in the running for a two-week residency at the ABC radio and television studios in Sydney – and to "learn from some of the country's best specialist journalists and producers, and acquire career-long skills, knowledge, and confidence in communicating with media and audiences" - was an opportunity that I had to give my best shot.'

Shauna's project for this residency is 'Multi-generational narrative history of the lived experience of Aboriginal people from colonisation to the present'. It extends the work of her award-winning monograph, Reaching Through Time: Finding my family's stories (Allen & Unwin, 2023).

On why this residency is an important opportunity for her, Shauna says: 'Writing a book can only go so far, and I am hoping that this residency is the first stepping-stone on a pathway that leads to me to creating my own documentary film. I am eager to learn all the media skills necessary to share my research with a much wider audience.' 

We are very excited to see what Shauna learns and produces as part of the TOP 5 program.