Michael Elwan Presents on Lived Experience Leadership in Academia

I’m excited to share that I’ll be presenting at the Service Users in Academia Symposium (SUAS) 2025, an event that brings together lived experience voices, researchers, and educators from across Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand. My presentation is titled “From Tokenism to Transformation: How Allyship and Cultural Safety Helped Me Thrive in Academia” which reflects a journey shaped by grief, migration, caregiving, and genuine allyship.

My presentation focuses on the idea that lived experience leadership in academia requires more than visibility. It depends on cultural safety, relational integrity, and partners who are willing to share power rather than perform inclusion. I speak about times when I felt reduced to my trauma or asked to simplify my culture, and I contrast these with the reality of what helped me thrive: trauma-aware supervision, cultural affirmation, and the steady presence of people who walked alongside me rather than ahead of me.

For me, this presentation is personal. I migrated to Australia in my late twenties and rebuilt my life from the ground up. I moved from peer work to residential support, youth work, case management, contract management and then senior leadership. My academic path followed a similar climb, beginning with a Certificate IV in Community Services and leading to postgraduate studies, two MicroMasters, and now my PhD on lived experience leadership with Charles Sturt University.

These steps shaped my practice philosophy and led me to establish Lived Experience Solutions (LEXs). Through LEXs, I support individuals, teams, and organisations to build cultures that value lived experience as expertise rather than story material. Presenting at the Service Users in Academia Symposium (SUAS) feels meaningful because it brings together people who understand why this work matters and who are committed to improving how lived experience is held in academic settings.

The symposium runs online from 20 to 21 November, co-hosted by Auckland University of Technology,​ the University of Melbourne, the University of Waikato, the University of Otago - Wellington, and Curtin University. I’m grateful to contribute to this kaupapa and look forward to connecting with others who share a commitment to equity, cultural humility, and lived experience leadership in academia.

Based in Perth, WA, LEXs provides telehealth counselling across Australia for individuals, couples, and NDIS participants. Services extend to Social Work supervision, Peer Work supervision, training, and keynote speaking on men’s mental health, CaLD community wellbeing, and culturally responsive suicide prevention; helping people and organisations make mental-health care more compassionate, inclusive, and effective. LEXs provides services across Australia, supporting clients in Perth, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, and beyond. To learn more about our work across Australia, visit LEXs' services page.