Research Guides: Research with Indigenous Communities: Indigenous-Led Labs

Indigenous-led Labs

This page contains a selection of labs and research groups led by Indigenous scientists.

Resource Highlight

Civic Laboratory for Environmental Action Research (CLEAR) is a feminist, anti-colonial research lab. Their research practices and methods center humility, equity, and just land relations. Directed by Dr. Max Liboiron at Memorial University in Canada, the lab members consider themselves to be a research team and a social collective and incubator for anti-colonial research methods. Their website includes examples of community and citizen science projects that center land relations. They include their lab manual, which may be helpful for lab and data managers.

AMP Lab (University of Toronto)
Led by Dr. Angela Mashford-Pringle, the AMP Lab focuses on public health conditions in Indigenous Peoples as well as community-led research related to land-based Indigenous learning methodologies and improving academic and workplace culture. Their website includes information about their research, lab members, publications, links to media appearances, and information about the communities with whom they do research.
Ărramăt Project (University of Alberta)
This lab is an international, collaborative team representing organizations, governments, university researchers, and others focused on research to better Indigenous health and well-being. Their work emphasizes Indigenous knowledge and agency to control and document their cultural information for the benefit of biodiversity and their communities. The team's website includes an archive of recorded webinars on topics such as reconciliation and decolonization in science. There is also an index of press releases and publications produced by the group.
Collaboratory for Indigenous Data Governance (University of Arizona)
The Collaboratory is an interdisciplinary lab group that conducts research and develops policy and practices for Indigenous data sovereignty, governance, and ethical research. The Collaboratory is led by Dr. Stephanie Russo Carroll, Associate Director of the Native Nations Institute and Assistant Professor in the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health at the University of Arizona.
Dark Laboratory
This lab focuses on the study of race and ecology and relies heavily on non-western traditions in their research practice. The lab's website includes several resources such as a "decolonial dictionary,” a syllabus, and a podcast. They also provide a video archive of past events. The lab is also independently funded and not attached to a research university.
Environmental Data Justice Lab (EDJ) (University of Toronto)
EDJ Lab is part of the Technoscience Research Unit at the University of Toronto. Their research focuses on relationships between data, pollution, and colonialism, and they are currently working on two major projects: 1) researching the history of the Imperial Oil refinery in Canada, which is located on the land of the Aamjiwnaag First Nation; and 2) making refinery emissions data publicly available through an app, which also embeds research literature about the health effects and symptoms of pollution exposure.
Food Sovereignty Lab (Cal Poly Humbolt)
The Food Sovereignty Lab at Cal Poly Humboldt is an interdisciplinary collaboration and workshop space that builds partnerships with Indigenous nations, the local community, and students related to environmental sustainability, Indigenous sovereignty, and food.
Geographic Indigenous Futures Collaboratory (GIF Lab) (University of Victoria)
The GIF Lab is led by Dr. Deondre Smiles at the University of Victoria. The lab's research focuses on critical Indigenous geography, human-environment interactions, political ecology, cultural presentation, and science and technology studies. While the lab's web presence is comparatively minimal, Dr. Smiles research is included as well as media recordings of lectures and speaking events.
Indigenous Science, Technology, and Society (Indigenous STS) (University of Alberta)
Indigenous STS is an international research and teaching lab that offers educational opportunities and produces outputs that inform policy-making to promote Indigenous self-determination in science and technology. Indigenous STS hosts a summer internship for Indigenous Peoples in Genomics Canada (SING Canada), a week-long program to foster scientific literacy and support Indigenous scholars in genomics, bioinformatics, and bioethics.
Native BioData Consortium (NBDC)
NBDC is a non-profit research institute led by Indigenous scientists and tribal community members in the U.S. Their lab is located on the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribal land, and their focus is on genetics and health research. They outline best practices that are covered in some other resources on this list, such as data sampling, community-led research, researcher-tribal relationships, sovereignty, and ethics. Some of their work relates to research on rheumatoid arthritis, omics, gene editing, and soil wealth.