Michelle Evans
Associate Professor in Leadership, Joint Associate Dean, Indigenous
Dr Michelle Evans is the inaugural Director of Dilin Duwa Centre for Indigenous Business Leadership, a centre of engagement, research and teaching focused on Indigenous economic empowerment.
Michelle Evans holds a joint appointment of Associate Professorship of Leadership and Associate Dean, Indigenous, at the University of Melbourne and the Melbourne Business School.
As Director of the Dilin Duwa Centre for Indigenous Business Leadership, Michelle also leads Indigenous initiatives at Melbourne Business School and the Faculty of Business and Economics.
Michelle is co-Founder of Australia’s number one Indigenous Business Master Class program, MURRA, based at Melbourne Business School, founder of the Wilin Centre for Indigenous Arts and Cultural Development at the Faculty of Victorian college of the Arts and Music, and founder of WALAN MAYINYGU Charles Sturt University’s Indigenous entrepreneurship Pop Up innovation hub program (2017/8).
A Fulbright scholar, Michelle has a unique combination of professional experience in management, community engagement and facilitation coupled with a strong track record in research. Michelle has attracted three highly competitive Australian Research Council grants, focused on investigating Australian Indigenous entrepreneurial leadership and the impact of the Indigenous preferential procurement policy.
Michelle has personally taught and mentored over 250 Australian Indigenous business people through various Indigenous business programs and serves on a number of committees nationally and internationally that focus on Indigenous advancement and rewarding excellence in engagement.
Selected Publications
‘Navigating the territories of Indigenous leadership: Exploring the experiences and practices of Australian Indigenous arts leaders’, Evans, M.M., & Sinclair, A., Leadership, 2015, Vol 12, no.4, pp270-290 (Refereed Journal Article)
'Containing, contesting, creating spaces: leadership and cultural identity work among Australian Indigenous arts leaders', Evans, M.M. & Sinclair, A., Leadership, 2016, Vol 12, no.3, pp270-292. (Refereed Journal Article)
'Difference and Leadership', Sinclair, A. & Evans, M.M. in Eds. Carroll, B., Ford, J. and Taylor, S. Leadership: Contemporary Critical Perspectives, 2019, Sage: London, Thousand Oaks, New Delhi, Singapore, 2nd Edition. (Book Chapter)
‘Surfacing assumptions via ‘metaxic’ method: an arts-based method for team fieldwork’, Evans M. & Smith K., Qualitative Research, 2019, vol. 20, no. 3, pp. 324–339 (Refereed Journal Article)
'What silence can teach us about race and leadership', Spiller, C., Evans, M., Schuyler, K.G. & Watson, L.W., Leadership, 2021, vol.17,no.1, pp. 81-98 (Refereed Journal Article).
‘Integrating andragogical philosophy with Indigenous teaching and learning’, Gainsford,A. & Evans, M., Management Learning, 2020, pp22- (Refereed Journal Article).
'Indigenous entrepreneurial motivations: Purpose, Profit and Leadership', Evans, M.M. & Williamson, I.O., Journal of Australian Indigenous Issues, 2017, Vol 20 (1), pp6-22. (Refereed Journal Article).
'Indigenising Curriculum in Business Education', Gainsford, A. & Evans, M.M., Journal of Australian Indigenous Issues, 2017, Vol 20 (1), pp57-70. (Refereed Journal Article)
Selected Awards
'Understanding the central tension of Indigenous entrepreneurship: Purpose, profit and leadership', Evans, M.M. & Williamson, I.O., Academy of Management Conference Proceedings, 2017 (Best Paper, Critical Management Studies). (Fully Refereed Conference Proceeding)
B/HERT 'CPA Australia/ABDC Award for Outstanding Achievement in Business Education Collaboration' Award 2016 for MURRA Indigenous Business Masterclass Program
