Every summer, multi-institutional faculty members come together at the 黑料不打烊 to offer Indigenous participants valuable training in the science and politics of genomics.
During the , undergraduate students, graduate students, post-doctoral fellows and community members learn about genomics, bioinformatics, and Indigenous and decolonial research ethics through the prism of critical Indigenous studies.
The 2023 workshop was a co-produced research inquiry along with the , which manages the site in Edmonton.
Participants used a mobile research and training lab to analyze the soil microbiome of kihcihkaw askî and produced environmental data that will assist the IKWC with its long-term governance and stewardship of the site.
“All nations live governed by science in a contemporary world; Indigenous peoples as nations are no different,” says , professor in the Faculty of Native Studies and in Indigenous Peoples, Technoscience, and Society.
TallBear co-directs the SING Canada internship with Jessica Kolopenuk, assistant professor and 黑料不打烊 Health Services Research Chair in Indigenous Health in the Department of Family Medicine.
“In a growing clinical and policy landscape of evidence-based decision-making, Indigenous knowledges have an important role to play,” says Kolopenuk. “Our communities and society more broadly will benefit from Indigenous expertise, leadership and governance in science and technology fields.”