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Senior Indigenous leadership positions across the Australian higher education sector has increased over the past decade. Despite this advancement, there is limited understanding in terms of how to best integrate Indigenous leadership into existing governance structures of Australian universities. In 2018 the Walan Mayiny: Indigenous Leadership in Higher Education project commenced, aimed at establishing a model of best practice for the inclusivity of Indigenous leadership in higher education governance structures. This article presents key findings from the project, namely, a model of senior Indigenous leadership within the Australian universities based on the perceptions of a group of Indigenous academics.

Through qualitative semi-structured interviews with Indigenous academic staff, the perceived value, characteristics and challenges of senior Indigenous leadership were examined. The varying opinions held by Indigenous academics in relation to the qualifications and experience required to fulfil a senior Indigenous leadership position were also highlighted. In doing so, a model of senior Indigenous leadership within the Australian higher education system is presented. The model of best practice presented in this article is underpinned by Indigenous Institutional Theory (Coates et al., 2022), a theoretical framework developed from the Walan Mayiny study.

The research findings highlight the diverse opinions of Indigenous academics in relation to the qualifications and experience required to fulfil a senior Indigenous leadership position. The six essential components are built upon the core characteristics, values and behaviours that senior Indigenous leaders need to have according to Indigenous academics, in order to advance Indigenous success within the academy.

Given Australian universities are being called upon to ensure that senior Indigenous leaders are in the best position possible to forge institutional change, senior Indigenous leaders within the academy may find the contextual Indigenous leadership model beneficial. The model allows one to uphold cultural integrity and fulfil the responsibilities and obligations of their higher education institution, while being able to serve their Indigenous colleagues and communities, leading to the advancement of Indigenous higher education outcomes. Importantly, the model can be adapted to suit all First Nations Peoples globally, who also find themselves working within the shackles of Western institutions.

It is imperative for policymakers, financial institutions, and individual investors to comprehend the factors that impact stock market participation, given the growing significance of the stock market in terms of personal and national wealth. This study endeavours to explore the relationship between cognitive ability and participation in the stock market. We examine the relationship between cognitive abilities and stock market participation, and further explore the mechanism of their influence.

The data from the China Family Panel Studies is utilized, and Tobit and Probit regressions are employed. Additionally, an instrumental variable approach (IV-estimate) is implemented to address the endogeneity issue linked to cognitive ability, and the study’s findings are resilient.

The results reveal a significant positive relationship between cognitive ability and stock market participation. Additionally, the findings suggest that households with higher cognitive ability tend to aggregate more information, expand social networks, and take more risks. A likely explanation is that individuals with higher cognitive ability are more likely to process more external information and evaluate the subjective uncertainty of stock markets based on a well-defined probability distribution. Our findings indicate that the impact of cognitive ability on stock market participation varies among families with differing education levels, genders, marital statuses, and geographical locations.

Therefore, the roles of cognitive abilities in accelerating stock market participation should be fully considered. More information channels and sources that contain financial markets’ information (e.g. mobile applications and financial education) should be provided. Thus, the significance of cognitive ability in increasing stock market participation should be fully considered. Providing more information channels and sources, such as mobile applications and financial education, that contain financial markets’ information would be helpful. Our study contributes to promoting financial literacy and inclusion by highlighting the significant positive impact of cognitive ability, where institutions can tailor their outreach efforts and information channels to better serve individuals with different cognitive ability.