Sandy is a Wiradjuri transgender/non-binary person. 

They are a 2020-2024 ARC Future Fellow, with a project titled Saving Lives: Mapping the influence of Indigenous LGBTIQ+ creative artists. The project will explore the unique contribution and influence of queer artists to understand how modelling complex identities contributes to the wellbeing of all First Nations' peoples. 

Since 1991 they have taught and researched across gender and sexuality, museums, the body, performance, design and First Nations’ identity. Sandy was the inaugural director of the Centre for Collaborative First Nations’ Research at Batchelor Institute in the Northern Territory and was recently Deputy Head of School of Creative Industries at the University of the Sunshine Coast .

They recently completed an internationally-focused Australian Research Council program examining the representation and engagement of First Nations’ Peoples across 470 museums and Keeping Places, and they continue to engage with the Museum Queeries collective in Canada. They also recently completed an ARC Linkage project mapping creative practice across the Barkly Region of the Northern Territory (Creative Barkly).  Sandy's work is often across both industry and the academy, and recently they completed a national review of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander dance and theatre makers for the Australia Council for the Arts. 

In addition to their academic work, Sandy has been a musician, performer and sound artist since 1982 and has held national and international arts residencies and performed and exhibited in a range of venues.