Local Contexts for Researchers

Are you a researcher excited about supporting Indigenous rights in your data and publications? 

Do you want to know how the Local Contexts Notices help researchers to disclose Indigenous interests?

This webinar focused on how the Notices can be used to create pathways for partnership and collaboration, and support Indigenous cultural authority and data sovereignty. Hear about the use of the Notices from three researchers working in and with archives, environmental sampling, biodiversity, genetics, and science communication.

This webinar is for researchers from various fields and experience levels. Some familiarity with the Local Contexts system of Notices and Labels will be helpful, but researchers at all stages of experience with Local Contexts are welcome. 

This is the first webinar in a series for researchers.

Speakers

Megan Wong, PhD

Research Associate, Centre for eResearch and Digital Innovation, Federation University

Megan is a Research Associate with the Centre of eResearch and Digital Innovation at Federation University (CeRDI). Megan’s PhD was in Soil Ecology. She has a diverse background in the fields of biological sciences, natural resource management, research data and services, and education.

Megan’s research facilitates the description, harmonization, and reuse of data in addressing environmental and societal challenges.

Recent collaborative efforts include:

• Enhancing the exchange and harmonization of soil data and information at the local and national levels
• Development and testing of policies related to the federation of agricultural data
• Strengthening research data community efforts toward reliable and appropriate vocabularies for describing data, thus maximizing data’s reuse potential and
• Working collaboratively with First Nations to progress challenges of Indigenous Data Governance

Beth Y. Davis

Graduate Research Assistant, Maine-eDNA Project; Ph. D. Student, Ecology and Environmental Sciences, School of Biology and Ecology, University of Maine

Beth is a PhD student in Ecology and Environmental Sciences through the School of Biology and Ecology at the University of Maine. She earned her Bachelors of Science in Biology at Oregon State University with a focus in Marine Biology, and studied adaptive and evolutionary genomics, community ecology, and thermal stress responses in regards to intertidal invertebrate and algal species. At the University of Maine, Beth is focused on working with eDNA as an aquatic monitoring tool and joining efforts to understand the continuing impacts of dams on Maine fisheries and river ecology. Beth is committed to equity and improving communication between scientists and non-scientists, and is working with local and indigenous communities in Maine.

Rose Barrowcliffe, PhD (Butchulla)

Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Department of Indigenous Studies, Macquarie University

Rose Barrowcliffe is Butchulla and a post-doctoral research fellow at Macquarie University. Rose’s research examines the representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in archives and her postdoc specifically focuses on embedding Indigenous perspectives in metadata to support discoverability and access of records for the subject communities. Rose is the inaugural First Nations Archives Advisor to the Queensland State Archives. Her roles within academia and a major collecting institution have led Rose to examine Indigenous Knowledge rights throughout the continuum of data/records and consider how researchers can improve their research practice to support Indigenous knowledge rights. This reflexive research practice led to Rose and co-author Leann Wilson (Bidjara) being the first to use a TK Notice in an academic journal article.