Kathleen Nelly is a Yamatji-Noongar Aboriginal woman with connections to the Mid-West and South-West country areas of Western Australia. Kathleen resides on Whadjuk country in Perth and has spent most of her life living, studying and working across Western Australia's mid-west region of Geraldton and Pilbara regions. Kathleen is a fourth-year Bachelor of Commerce student majoring in International Business and Anthropology and Sociology at Curtin University, she was previously the 2016 inaugural winner of the Geraldton TAFE Aboriginal Student of the Year Award and was a 2016 top 4 Finalist for the Australian Training Award for Western Australia’s Aboriginal Student of the Year Award, since then she has been an advocate for access to quality education for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and youth.

Kathleen’s advocacy of social impact issues is done through various youth engagements such as being an Alumni of the “Follow the Dream” program, delivered through the Polly Farmer Foundation established in WA. Kathleen is also an Alumni of the Yorga Djenna Bidi Aboriginal Women’s Leadership Program which is delivered by the Western Australian Leadership Institute (WAALI) and volunteers as an Alumni supporting Indigenous women to do the program and presents on her education journey to new participants.

As well as studying at Curtin University, Kathleen works as a Project Officer in the Cultural Capability team at Curtin and focuses on supporting Curtin’s Cultural Educators in implementing the Indigenous Cultural Capabilities Framework (ICCF) training to staff, students, external and community. Since 2017, Kathleen has worked at Curtin on various projects related to cultural education with a primary focus on strategy and reporting and supporting First Nations students in higher education, she values supporting and improving important issues like student equity, gender equality, human rights, social justice, sustainability, and ensuring access to education. Kathleen advocates for these social impact issues and advocates for First Nations students in higher education as a Student Representative Member on the Australian Centre for Student Equity and Success (ACSES) Advisory Board.