16 December 2024 INTRODUCTION The Australian Human Rights Commission (the Commission) has been funded by the Australian Government to undertake the Respect at Uni: Study into Antisemitism, Islamophobia, Racism and the Experiences of First Nations People (the Study), in response to Recommendation 33 from the Australian Universities Accord Final Report, to be led by the Race Discrimination Commissioner. As part of the study, a systemic literature review is required. This Interim Report on Emerging Findings (the Report) has been developed by a team of researchers from the Research Arm of the Jumbunna Institute for Indigenous Education and Research (Jumbunna) and the Centre for Social Justice and Inclusion (CSJI). Project Overview This Report is part of a suite of activities being undertaken by the Australian Human Rights Commission (the Commission) under oversight of the Race Discrimination Commissioner in relation to their aim of working with governments, business, community partners, education providers, the media and workplaces to help individuals and organisations understand their rights and meet their legal responsibilities under the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and the federal Racial Discrimination Act 1975 (RDA). The National Anti-Racism Framework, released in late November 2024, after extensive consultation over a number of years, now provides a roadmap for governments, business and community organisations to address all forms of racism in Australia. The Framework contains 63 recommendations for a whole of society approach to eliminating racism, with proposed reforms across Australia’s legal, justice, health, education, media and arts sectors as well as workplaces and data collection. In parallel, the Australian Universities Accord, a 12 month review of Australia’s tertiary education system, recommended the conducting of a survey into the prevalence and impact of racism across the tertiary education system (Australian Government Department of Education, 2023, p. 32; Australian Government Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency, 2024). This Report is part of the initial response to the Accord Recommendation and seeks to investigate the prevalence, nature and impact of individual and systemic racism within Australian universities (for both students and staff), with a particular focus on (but not limited to) racism, antisemitism, Islamophobia and the experiences of First Nations peoples, international students, as well as people from negatively racialised/culturally and racially marginalised backgrounds. Interim Report on Emerging Findings University of Technology Sydney 1