| MARISELLA MOLINA (Pascua Yaqui Tribal Citizen), Undergraduate Research Assistant, University of Arizona

| LILITH SHEA CLARK, Undergraduate Research Assistant, University of Arizona

Indigenous Peoples’ perspectives have been neglected in the governance of research that involves them as individuals and as political collectives. This has led to policies, systems, and processes that are not responsive to Indigenous concerns and priorities. The NSF project, “An Indigenous data governance approach for enhancing ethical research policies and practices,” aims to address this underrepresentation by advancing a self-determined (prioritizing Indigenous histories, values, and futures) rather than reactive (driven by misconduct and prevailing trends in data use) approach to research governance. With a focus on academic institutions, the project applies an Indigenous Data Sovereignty (IDSov) framework in assessing existing university research policies as well as developing indicators that support efforts to advance effective and ethical intercultural knowledge exchange.

The session will present findings from a comparative analysis of research governance documents at universities within the CANZUS countries (Canada, Australia, New Zealand, US). The analysis is based on IDSov principles and builds on a scoping review (also part of the project) that examines management of Indigenous data in a variety of institutional settings. Key takeaways include (1) considerations for developing a US national standard for Indigenous research governance in light of experiences in other CANZUS countries and (2) a discussion of institutional indicators for assessing – and fostering ethical, self-determined – research involving Indigenous Peoples.