General Information

Cultural and Indigenous Research Centre Australia (CIRCA) has been providing insightful, high quality research, evaluation and consultancy with culturally diverse communities and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples for over 24 years. Our experienced consultants work with a national network of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and bilingual research consultants to undertake culturally safe and responsive research across a range of policy areas including health, justice, education and early childhood, anti-discrimination and human rights, child protection and domestic and family violence.

What we do

• Large scale program evaluation, research and reviews
• Research in more than 20 languages and with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities nationally including regional/remote communities
• Market research: concept testing, campaign evaluation, developmental research
• Stakeholder mapping, engagement and consultation
• Facilitation and data collection: qualitative, quantitative, face-to-face, telephone, online
• Applying participatory and co-design principles to research, evaluation and program design
• Capacity building around monitoring, evaluation and planning
• Literature Reviews

Why CIRCA

Skill:  Industry leader with a highly skilled team; senior consultants are involved in every stage

Integrity:  Best practice approaches underpinned by cultural respect and understanding

Quality: ISO 20252 Accreditation

Knowledge:  Valuable insights to make informed and practical decisions with a focus on tailored and flexible solutions

Access:  Capacity to conduct research in over 20 languages, and in urban, regional and remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities

Highly skilled & capable team

The CIRCA team have strong research, evaluation, policy and communications backgrounds and extensive experience working in cross-cultural settings. This unparalleled experience and depth of knowledge offers significant value for our clients when developing strategies, programs or services.

Network of Indigenous & bilingual research consultants

Our team includes an extensive network of highly-skilled bilingual and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander research consultants, who:

• Promote culturally-specific research methods
• Provide cultural safety and culturally responsive practice
• Ensure that a diverse range of voices of community members & family groups are heard.

With consultants based in, and with connections to, communities across Australia, we also bring these unique connections, approaches and knowledge to our way of working.

Our approach

• Cultural respect
• Co-design and collaboration
• Integrity and quality
• Accountability
• Flexibility
• Practical, innovative & realistic solutions

Industry recognition

2015 winner

Australasian Evaluation Society’s Indigenous Evaluation Award for Excellence in Evaluation for the evaluation of the NSW Aboriginal Child & Family Centres for Department of Family & Community Services.

2014 winner

CIRCA was awarded the Research Industry Council of Australia’s Research Effectiveness Award in Public Policy/Social Research for the research and evaluation for the Department of Health’s National Indigenous Ear Health.

Research Society Members Pino Migliorino, Lena Etuk, Rochelle Braaf, Rea Singh

Key Personnel

Pino Migliorino, Managing Director: Pino has over 30 years’ experience in multicultural marketing and research, and a leading expert and commentator in the area.

Lena Etuk, Manager - Research & Evaluation: Lena has extensive experience managing research and evaluation projects across a wide range of policy areas and has expertise in a variety of qualitative and quantitative methodologies, including deductive and inductive approaches, interviews, case studies, survey methods, outcomes measurement, regression analysis, two‐stage selection modelling, and demographic trend analysis.

Rochelle Braaf, Senior Researcher - Research & Evaluation: Rochelle has extensive experience conducting and managing research and evaluation projects across diverse social and environmental policy areas, with expertise in a range of qualitative and quantitative methodologies. Rochelle’s experience spans research in academia, government, sector peak bodies, national and international NGOs, the UN and private consulting.

Yvonne Weldon, Associate: Yvonne Weldon has 20 years’ experience working in key government and Aboriginal organisations, providing specialist consultant services and advice.