How should academic researchers work with Indigenous communities to produce new knowledge that addresses community needs? The Indigenous Community Research Partnerships open access, online training resource aims to build capacity in researchers to develop authentic, respectful research partnerships. We connected with Dr. Janet Jull, Assistant Professor at Queen’s University, to learn more about this resource.
Tell me how it came about that you and your team decided to develop the Indigenous Community Research Partnerships training module? Who is the Indigenous Community Research Partnerships training module for?
JJ: I was finding in my work I had many requests from other researchers asking how I started my work and how I connected with Indigenous communities. It just grew from there with people wanting to know how to do the work and then connecting with likeminded people who shared common concerns about the way that research was being done.
The Indigenous Community Research Partnerships training module was developed for researchers and researchers in training, but really it’s for anyone who is on a journey of learning how to work in partnerships with Indigenous communities, including funders, research ethics board members or community members.
What makes this training module unique?
JJ: It’s unique in that it addresses a topic that hasn’t been addressed yet. Right now for Indigenous research in Canada and internationally, there is policy to guide research, but there hasn’t been a guideline or training about how to do a principled approach to research. For example, the Tri-Council Policy Statement (TCPS2), Chapter 9 – it’s a policy. It’s what you need to do to conduct ethical research, but how to actually do it is not part of that document. The intent of the training resource is to get at how do you actually do the work, so that’s what makes the training module unique.
The training resource is based on the Canadian Institutes of Health Research Guidelines for Health Research Involving Aboriginal People that was developed by and with communities in Canada through years of partnerships. It is a really unique document and a lot of researchers, even internationally, who do collaborative research with Indigenous partners use these guidelines. In Module 4, which is a more recent part of the training module, there are case studies that you can go through to practice applying the principles in these guidelines, making it more experiential.
Another unique feature is that this training module is a living resource. We are in constant consultation with Indigenous partners and people who have tried out the training resource so as we have more feedback, we are going to adjust it and update it. And then of course it’s open access. We designed it for people to take it and use it; they just have to reference the original resource, make their resource open access as well, and they’re not allowed to gain financially from it. We did that on purpose so that it could be shared. There has been so much community investment in the training resource and so it was really important that the community has free access to the benefits of it.
The training module refers to collaborative research and participatory research processes. How does this fit with integrated knowledge translation (IKT)?
JJ: How does this fit with IKT? I think it is IKT. In IKT we need to consider our assumptions, world views and paradigms and what we bring to the research relationship. We also need to be open and understanding that people bring their own assumptions, worldviews and priorities. This training resource lays that bare, that it’s really important as a researcher that you’re self-aware. In the training module we talk about “ethical space,” and that’s where you’re aware that people bring their own values and beliefs, and you’re agreeing to work together and to not view their knowledge as less important. It’s a very equitable approach.
In IKT, that’s related to shared governance and knowledge democracy, where you decide we are going to be very democratic in our working together and to create knowledge that’s benefiting everybody in the relationship. I view the training resource as one way of operationalizing IKT and helping people get their heads into that mindset and building the capacity to do IKT research.
The training resource says a principled approach “engages researchers with communities in a process of reflection around principles that both parties agree is important in the research.” Why is a principled approach important in partnered research?
JJ: A principled approach is important because it gets back to the governance, power sharing and self-awareness. It’s a way to do research where you are acknowledging your assumptions, views and values and you’re agreeing to be open and respectful of the people that you’re working with and their priorities, views and values. It’s a mindset. It’s not ticking the box in the policy; you’re actually engaging in a process. When we were developing the training resource, one of the partners in this work, they said we have to do this in a way that engages with the heart. So that’s another way of putting this – a principled approach is engaging not just people’s minds, but also their values or their heart, which I think is a good way of putting it.
In addition to completing this training module, do you have any tips for trainees or novices who may have an interest in Indigenous community research partnerships?
JJ: I would say to think of your research learning as a journey. This training resource can be a great start, but it’s just one of many ways to acquire the learning. If you want to work with the community, think of it as a lifelong relationship. Because often there’s a trust issue, so you need to be someone that can be trusted and not just drop in and disappear. It’s tough for researchers because we’re in this system that encourages us to behave that way. As researchers, it’s OK to push for change within our institutions to support us to do the work in a good way that honours a principled approach in research.
To complete the free, open access training modules, click here.
For additional reading, see this article in The Conversation.