Kaely Woods

Kaely Woods is a Visiting Fellow at the POLIS: The Centre for Social Policy Research at the Australian National University (ANU). She is a senior executive, company director, and researcher specializing in Indigenous economic development, cultural value quantification, and policy development. Her work focuses on First Nations peoples, addressing challenges such as native title compensation, cultural heritage protection, and governance frameworks. She previously served as Deputy CEO of Indigenous Business Australia (IBA), supporting Indigenous economic empowerment through business and home ownership. Kaely holds a PhD in cultural value quantification and has extensive experience in commercial and not-for-profit sectors.

Educations: BEc, GAICD (Governance qualification), PhD in Social Policy.

Research Interests: Economic development policies for Indigenous communities, non-market valuation of cultural assets, land rights advocacy, and health policy. Her doctoral research pioneered choice modelling to quantify cultural values of the Nyikina and Mangala peoples in the Kimberley region, emphasizing Indigenous perspectives in decision-making.

Key Projects: Led the CAEPR commissioned report on perpetual funding models for Native Title Prescribed Bodies Corporate (2021). Collaborated on assessing Fitzroy River values (2022) and Indigenous knowledge valuation frameworks (2019).

Labs/Teams: Affiliated with ANU's Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research (CAEPR) and POLIS, contributing to interdisciplinary research on Indigenous policy and cultural valuation.