Talia’s PhD explores how the education system engages in reconciliation at the policy, school and classroom levels as well as through the perspectives of children. Through a multi-disciplinary ethnographic inquiry into the everyday policies and practices in two urban primary schools on Ngunnawal Country, in the ACT education jurisdiction, the study responded to a gap in understanding how, why and for whom reconciliation is (re)constructed. The findings have implications for how individuals, organisations and the nation understand and engage with reconciliation beyond the education system.  They have been adapted to professional development for educators and Commonwealth and State/Territory public policy makers; university courses; and individual and organisational change evaluation frameworks and capacity building on addressing intersectional discrimination, anti-racism, and reconciliation.

Talia was employed by the Department of Social Services (DSS) and then the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet for over 20 years in various policy, implementation (including community engagement) and organisational culture (learning and development) roles. A key role was as the Executive Director First Nations disability policy, where she established a national policy, research and data agenda in partnership with peak organisations, community and research partners bridging the gap between Closing the Gap and Australia’s Disability Strategy. Talia now works in the not-for-profit sector, as Head of Policy, Projects and Advocacy at Research Australia, the national health and medical research and innovation peak. Since completing her PhD, she has also held research fellowships and teaching positions in the ANU College of Arts and Social Science, has been a Chief Investigator on intercultural understanding research and evaluation projects, and has co-designed and delivered community led and evidence informed capability framework and organisational tools to assess the extent individuals and organisations are culturally safe, inclusive and human rights led. She has also been a visiting fellow at Crawford’s Children Policy Centre, and was most recently involved in a project Measuring Multidimensional Child Poverty in Australia.  
 

• Bar-Tal D, Avrahamzon T (2016) ‘Development of delegitimization and animosity in the context of intractable conflict’. In Sibley C and Barlow F (eds), Cambridge Handbook of the Psychology of Prejudice. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
• Avrahamzon T and Gorringe S (24-28 July 2017) ‘Reconciliation in Australian primary schools’ [conference presentation], World Indigenous Policy Conference on Education, Toronto, Canada.
• Avrahamzon T (24-25 August 2017) ‘“We don’t focus on reconciliation as we do it all the time, it’s embedded in everything we do”: how two primary schools deliver messages about Indigenous peoples and cultures, Australian history and reconciliation’ [conference presentation], Oceanic Ethnography and Education Conference, Deakin University, Deakin, Australia.
• Avrahamzon T (11-13 September 2017) ‘Reconciling the Contradictions of Reconciliation – Primary School Children’s Perspectives’ [conference presentation], Oxford Ethnography and Education Conference, Oxford, England.
• Avrahamzon T and Herron M (3 November 2017) ‘Celebrating Reconciliation or Racism in Celebration: Institutional racism towards Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and cultures in primary and secondary schools’ [conference presentation], 50 Years of Institutional Racism Conference, Deakin University, Deakin, Australia.
• Avrahamzon T (2019) Everyday Reconciliation at School: New Celebrations and Ongoing Silences [PhD Thesis], The Australian National University, Canberra.
• Avrahamzon T (1-3 July 2019) ‘Settled Reconciliation: ‘Settled reconciliation’ in education policy and practice – how celebrations of reconciliation can silence diversity’ [conference presentation], 2019 AIATSIS National Indigenous Research Conference, Brisbane, Australia.
• Avrahamzon T (1-5 December 2019) ‘Reconciling education policies and the everyday practices in schools in relation to reconciliation in Australia’ [conference presentation], Australian Association for Research in Education Conference, Brisbane, Australia.
• Avrahamzon T and Avery S (3 November 2021) ‘Intersectionality: Closing the Gap and Australia’s Disability Strategy’ [conference presentation], Australian Social Policy Conference, UNSW Social Policy Research Centre Sydney.
• Avrahamzon T, Dinku Y, Murray M and Bowen T (2022) Core Cultural e-Learning Impact and Currency Evaluation. Report to Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies
• Sajan J, De S, Avarahamzon T, and Avery S (2023), 'First Nations Disability Cultural Model of Inclusion Framework and Organisational Tool' project. Western Sydney University.
• Bessell S, O'Sullivan C, Lang M, Rose T and Avrahamzon T (2024) 'More for Children: Child-Centred Indicators of Multidimensional Poverty', More for Children Discussion Paper 1, The Children's Policy Centre, The Australian National University, Canberra.
• Bessell S, O'Sullivan C, Rose T, Lang M and Avrahamzon T (2025), 'Measuring Multidimensional Child Poverty in Australia', Australian Economic Review 58:S22-S35.