DrReakeeta Morgan

RN, BN, PhD

Reakeeta Smallwood (RN, BN, PhD) is a proud Gamilaroi Calala murri yinarr, Registered Nurse and Senior Lecturer at the University of Sydney's Susan Wakil Nursing and Midwifery School. She trained as a registered nurse through the NSW Health Aboriginal Cadetship program and has held various roles in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health and wellbeing across health and higher education sectors. As a proud recipient of UTS's Jumbunna Indigenous Higher Degree Postgraduate scholarship, Reakeeta completed her PhD exploring the historical trauma inquiry and resilience with Aboriginal young people in Australia. Reakeeta proudly locates her work within the Indigenous research paradigm and the examiners of her thesis recommended her work for a Special Commendation. In 2025, Reakeeta was named on the University of Technology Sydney's Chancellor's list for exceptional research. Her thesis is one of the first studies in Australia to explore historical trauma with Aboriginal young people. Reakeeta's early career researcher work is deeply rooted in community-led health research, with a focus on improving outcomes and research capacity with and for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

Since publishing in 2020, Reakeeta's work has been cited over 400 times (google scholar), with the most cited work examining the lasting impact of British colonisation on Indigenous communities worldwide. In January 2025, Reakeeta's H-Index was 7 and h5-index was 5 demonstrating a strong position at this early stage of career. Importantly, Reakeeta's research interests are driven by her local community's needs and priorities with a specific focus on ensuring strength-based approaches that account for lasting continuing impact of colonisation including topics and approaches that centre Aboriginal knowledge systems (ontologies/epistemologies/axiologies). Reakeeta is dedicated to mentoring the next generation of Aboriginal peoples in to research, having recruited and mentored multiple Aboriginal Research Assistants and higher degree research students.

As a capturing speaker, Reakeeta has delivered four poignant keynotes to health professionals, researchers and policy makers at state, national and international conferences. When, presenting her work, Reakeeta privileges the voices of her community she remains obligated too using storytelling and poetic inquiry.