iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Prof Sandy O’Sullivan (Wiradjuri, trans they/them)

Rhea Liang @liangrhea.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

QLD surgeons, please donate to the RACS QLD Centenary book for 2027. No other state is doing one, and it is not centrally funded by RACS (unlike the bi-national Centenary book). ✅️ tax-deductible ✅️ your name will be listed in the front section. www.surgeons.org/about-racs/r...

surgeons.org

RACS Queensland Centenary Book

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Prof Sandy O’Sullivan (Wiradjuri, trans they/them) @sandyosullivan.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

I am! Thanks for checking in. I hope you’re doing well!? Here’s my post top-surgery shot - still a bit of recovery because of my 60 year-old body - but I’m actually feeling great!

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Reposted by Prof Sandy O’Sullivan (Wiradjuri, trans they/them)

Rhea Liang @liangrhea.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Love this so much. Miss Uganda wore a dress representing the 7 layers of a Caesarian section. In a beauty pageant! Because motherhood IS beautiful, and strong, and inspiring. 😍👏

nine.com.au

‘Layers of life’: The incredible story sewn into Miss World Uganda’s gown

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Prof Sandy O’Sullivan (Wiradjuri, trans they/them) @sandyosullivan.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

Sorry, I should say ‘gotten’. It was nine weeks ago. This is just a bit of follow-up.

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Prof Sandy O’Sullivan (Wiradjuri, trans they/them) @sandyosullivan.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

I’m fine… just an older person getting gender affirming surgery follow up!

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Reposted by Prof Sandy O’Sullivan (Wiradjuri, trans they/them)

Prof Deborah Lupton, MPH PhD @dalupton.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

There’s a huge change coming to COVID vaccine access policy in Australia. From 1 October, many people will no longer be eligible for a free vaccine. Terrible policy 😡 www.health.gov.au/resources/pu...

health.gov.au

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Prof Sandy O’Sullivan (Wiradjuri, trans they/them) @sandyosullivan.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

SAGE in particular is really renewed, and I'm grateful for the work their team is doing. I suspect it will be the requirements under Horizon Europe that will force/encourage/force universities to be better at their inclusivity. I mean... we'll see.

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Prof Sandy O’Sullivan (Wiradjuri, trans they/them) @sandyosullivan.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Doing brilliantly! I know some of it is the trans-affirming surgery, and some of it is working with amazing people (and about to work with other amazing people), but things are wonderful!

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Prof Sandy O’Sullivan (Wiradjuri, trans they/them) @sandyosullivan.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Also a great big shout out that I had gender affirming surgery nine weeks ago and got four weeks off thanks to the negotiated deal for full time staff with the union and my current university. Let’s make sure other trans people get jobs like mine, right?

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Prof Sandy O’Sullivan (Wiradjuri, trans they/them) @sandyosullivan.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Working as I have in the Centre of Critical Indigenous Studies with some of the most promising and amazing queer, trans, and even cis(!) Indigenous scholars for the last six years has reminded me that they are the future. I hope the university sector can get out of their way and let them shine.

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Prof Sandy O’Sullivan (Wiradjuri, trans they/them) @sandyosullivan.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

We all need to focus on our next steps. I don’t wanna just see out my life in a dream job while my trans siblings are not being given these opportunities. There’s a lot that we need to do, and that I need to do. This lifeline from UQ and that’s what it was, has reminded me of this.

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Prof Sandy O’Sullivan (Wiradjuri, trans they/them) @sandyosullivan.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

We deserve more. Trans people deserve more, Aboriginal people deserve to have other complexities. The whole of the community deserves to see academics that look and sound like them. We shouldn’t have to be so much better than other people to secure a job. We should be able to have grand aspirations.

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Prof Sandy O’Sullivan (Wiradjuri, trans they/them) @sandyosullivan.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Why would we participate in spaces like universities? Why would we participate in any of these spaces that require us to be less than who we are in order to secure a position? I believe that university can do better, honestly otherwise I’ll just retire. I’m 60 and this is frankly really tiring.

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Prof Sandy O’Sullivan (Wiradjuri, trans they/them) @sandyosullivan.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

If we don’t do this now it’s not a question of how many trans people will be full professors, it’s a question of how many will even go to university at all. If access is closed off to us, why would we bother? We are being treated as second class citizens while being told to get out of spaces.

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Prof Sandy O’Sullivan (Wiradjuri, trans they/them) @sandyosullivan.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

I’m on the national Athena Swan committee, on a Horizon Europe program examining equity. My work focuses on equity - in museums yes, but also across the public imaginary. This has been such a reminder to me towards the end of my career that we have to make space for diversity, not just say it.

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Prof Sandy O’Sullivan (Wiradjuri, trans they/them) @sandyosullivan.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

I’m really excited to be going from one fantastic centre to a fantastic school. Lucky me, right? But that’s just it, it’s a bit of luck and it’s a bit of good people cutting through that garbage that has taken hold of our universities as they’ve shaped to become respectable instead of brilliant.

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Prof Sandy O’Sullivan (Wiradjuri, trans they/them) @sandyosullivan.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

But it wasn’t an institution that did this, it was my new colleagues reaching out and understanding that the complexity of who we are actually makes us more ‘of the world’, more of what students and the community should expect from universities. They should expect us to be good at our jobs.

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Prof Sandy O’Sullivan (Wiradjuri, trans they/them) @sandyosullivan.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

When UQ offered me this dream job – literally a job I’ve dreamed about and planned for for years - it came at the end of a journey into seeing how those comfortability politics exclude some of us. I’m excited about working with the people who could not just see past that, but see the whole me.

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Prof Sandy O’Sullivan (Wiradjuri, trans they/them) @sandyosullivan.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

The thing about this is that it’s hard to pinpoint. You can have a sense and I think I have very good senses after all these years in higher education as an Indigenous trans person. And over that time I’ve seen comfortability politics become a part of the university system.

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Prof Sandy O’Sullivan (Wiradjuri, trans they/them) @sandyosullivan.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Because I imagined my experience – 35 years of teaching and research and leadership - across the expected areas would guarantee a fair interview. Sometimes it did, but other times I knew why it couldn’t possibly. And there is nothing concrete, no evidence to explain this.

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Prof Sandy O’Sullivan (Wiradjuri, trans they/them) @sandyosullivan.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

I applied for leadership roles similar to the one I’m in. My dream was to develop museum studies, but I’ll be honest - I didn’t imagine anywhere was going to trust a mainstream program to me not because I couldn’t do it but because of who I am. So instead I applied for leadership roles.

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Prof Sandy O’Sullivan (Wiradjuri, trans they/them) @sandyosullivan.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

The MQ role has been remarkable; I’ve loved it. But at the time that the uni is diminishing what’s possible there was no support for us expanding our programs to focus on areas that I believed were meaningful so I looked elsewhere. Again with the support of my colleagues who are amazing.

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Prof Sandy O’Sullivan (Wiradjuri, trans they/them) @sandyosullivan.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Most have intersections in their lives. I’m an Aboriginal person, an older person, and I’m trans. I’m a lot of other things, but they’re what’s most obvious. I’m also a professor in Critical Indigenous Studies at MQ. In 2027, I join the University as professor of Museum Studies.

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Prof Sandy O’Sullivan (Wiradjuri, trans they/them) @sandyosullivan.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

While this isn’t true for everyone, I’m aware that for many trans people their opportunities in work are diminishing. Said within the greatest of privileges, I had some experiences myself over the last couple of years. I want to share what they look(ed) like and what disrupted them.

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Prof Sandy O’Sullivan (Wiradjuri, trans they/them) @sandyosullivan.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

I’m still on Dharug Ngurra (Sydney) till the end of the year! Yeah, it looks like a lovely program.

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Reposted by Prof Sandy O’Sullivan (Wiradjuri, trans they/them)

Rhea Liang @liangrhea.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs causes harm when it underlies any program that starts with 'basic' needs like food and shelter- just look at historical Aboriginal missions or current aged care. 😱 The first human need is IDENTITY- to be seen, valued, connected. All else follows from this recognition.

The Eden alternative domains of wellbeing, starting with identity and connectedness at the base.
Attribution: Dementia Beyond Disease, Enhancing Well-Being - Revised Edition. (Well-being pyramid, p. domains, pp. 37-248). By Author G. Allen Power, MD, FACP (2017). Baltimore, MD: Health Press, Inc. Copyright 2017. Adapted by ABeautifulVoice.org with permission of author.
Online source: https://abeautifulvoice.org/about/hierarchy-of-needs/

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Reposted by Prof Sandy O’Sullivan (Wiradjuri, trans they/them)

Rhea Liang @liangrhea.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

With renewed debate about the misuse potential vs accessibility benefits of smart glasses, this nuanced thread is worth reposting. My take? AI can't be smart enough to narrate pictures yet somehow too dumb to recognise abuse/misuse. Blocking that usage is absolutely doable and should be mandatory.

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Prof Sandy O’Sullivan (Wiradjuri, trans they/them) @sandyosullivan.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

Very excited to announce that in 2027 I’ll be joining The University of Queensland in the School of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry as a Professor in Museum Studies where we'll be building an industry-connected Masters. Here’s a photo of me taken a while ago.

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Prof Sandy O’Sullivan (Wiradjuri, trans they/them) @sandyosullivan.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

Speaking of which they seem to allow four ethnicities this time and I’m sure last time it was a reduced amount.

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Prof Sandy O’Sullivan (Wiradjuri, trans they/them) @sandyosullivan.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

Actually, they did. They had a write in and so it allowed both. I assume a whole bunch of other people would’ve done the same thing.

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Reposted by Prof Sandy O’Sullivan (Wiradjuri, trans they/them)

sja @sam-ja.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

i'd recommend people read the response from an LGBTQ+ cancer charity to last year's EHRC proposed guidance - been thinking a lot about this particular section ever since i first read it (full response here outpatients.org.uk/2025/06/26/e...)

Screenshot of article reading:
"The suggestion that transgender people should only be accommodated in side rooms is unfeasible. As anyone in healthcare knows, available side rooms are a rare commodity. If their use was mandated for all transgender patients it would largely be unenforceable. It is necessary to consider the broad variety of people who require side rooms and their availability across the NHS. As per NHS Estates documents, increased floor area, capital cost, management, and staffing issues also need to be considered. If a redrafted single-sex accommodation policy aligns with the EHRC’s Code of Practice, we feel that it could leave transgender people without reliable accommodation options, putting their clinical outcomes at risk."

Quote from article
'“Let us take the example of Joelle, a trans woman who died of an eminently treatable cancer after waiting for eight days on a general ward, because clinicians could not agree whether she should be placed on a men’s ward or a women’s ward. The delay in treatment cost her her life.”

-Dr Roz Savage, MP'

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Prof Sandy O’Sullivan (Wiradjuri, trans they/them) @sandyosullivan.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

See?!?! Gavin understood the assignment! THAT is dark academia at its finest.

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Prof Sandy O’Sullivan (Wiradjuri, trans they/them) @sandyosullivan.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

Great. It’s a really important discussion. I remain concerned that RuRo can’t imagine, say, Heiss’ Barbed Wire and Cherry Blossoms in part because of the boundary setting of genre fixing (can’t be historical plus etc) that also because of the quiet part never mentioned, including in this article.

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Reposted by Prof Sandy O’Sullivan (Wiradjuri, trans they/them)

Natacha @natacha.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

“Gender-critical” transphobia is fascism. Transphobes don’t want to “protect women & children”, they just hate trans people. There are no “gender-critical beliefs” just hatred. They are just a rhetorical cover for hate. They are certainly not in any way “worthy of respect” in a democratic society.

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Reposted by Prof Sandy O’Sullivan (Wiradjuri, trans they/them)

Tapani Hopkins @tapani-hopkins.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

I've been seeing references to some anti-trans changes coming to English schools in September. Now found out what it's about. Really not good. What it boils down to is making trans children's school time miserable, in the apparent hope it's just a phase and they'll stop all this trans stuff.

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Reposted by Prof Sandy O’Sullivan (Wiradjuri, trans they/them)

Fae’rynn is Writing @faerynnistired.itch.io · 22/07/2026

not a huge fan of this whole thing of “non-binary people don’t have the same stake in trans rights.” thing going around. kill the Bri Wu in your head please and thank you

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Reposted by Prof Sandy O’Sullivan (Wiradjuri, trans they/them)

Good Law Project @goodlawproject.org · 24/07/2026

If you know, you know 👀

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Reposted by Prof Sandy O’Sullivan (Wiradjuri, trans they/them)

🏳️‍🌈 Dolly Darren 🏳️‍⚧️ @dollydarren.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

Well, the @bishopsgateinst.bsky.social has got how to label toilets properly... 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

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Prof Sandy O’Sullivan (Wiradjuri, trans they/them) @sandyosullivan.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

I really enjoyed filling that in but I’ve gotta say it did seem like it was put together by someone who is quite young. Not all of us have living parents or living parents in the last decade. All of the use questions kind of assumes young people.

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Prof Sandy O’Sullivan (Wiradjuri, trans they/them) @sandyosullivan.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

It’s non-binary people’s day. At a time where there’s so much anti-trans rhetoric, non-binary people are still targeted but are often left behind in the discussion & defence by others. It’s the coloniality of the gender binary of course. I wrote this a few years ago pipewrenchmag.com/binary-gende...

pipewrenchmag.com

Issue Seven: No Cession, Sandy O'Sullivan

Who says this depicts a woman? Contemporary gender binaries, not original sources. But gender fluid people have always existed.

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Reposted by Prof Sandy O’Sullivan (Wiradjuri, trans they/them)

Ewart, Dave @davidewart.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

Judge Rose Falla appointment on 12 May 2026. . Judge Falla was the first Aboriginal person appointed as a magistrate in Victoria and is now the first Aboriginal person appointed as a judge of the County Court of Victoria.

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Prof Sandy O’Sullivan (Wiradjuri, trans they/them) @sandyosullivan.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

Absolutely. I teach a masters unit in Indigenous policy, and much of what students learn is the current mismatch between reality and the promises of policy, and how to lobby for change. Seeing some of these comments here reminds me of why this work matters because we aren’t a use concept for others.

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