Center for Braiding Indigenous Knowledges and Science (CBIKS)

University Of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst MA

Investigators

Abstract

The natural and built environments of our modern world interact in complex ways that affect public resources and resource security. Understanding these interactions requires collaboration, coordination, and sharing of knowledge and data among a wide range of researchers, communities, and organizations. This science and technology center advances knowledge about human-environment dynamics and engagement in science by leveraging and integrating valuable data resources that stimulate research in areas of societal importance. Based on a comparative analysis of over 30 place-based projects involving nearly 60 partnering institutions and communities, the center develops a set of generalizable findings, tools, trainings, protocols, and best practices for integrating community partners and community knowledge into the scientific enterprise. The projects identify current priorities related to the environment, food security, and community resource management and address them using integrated research strategies. The center provides research opportunities for numerous postdoctoral researchers, graduate research assistants, undergraduate student researchers, and the public. Data and research outcomes are disseminated through a publicly accessible repository as well as formal and informal learning activities for K-12 students and teachers, scientists, and communities. The center has three main aims: 1) to develop a publicly accessible repository for the storage, organization, and sharing of methods and guidelines for effective integration of knowledge systems; 2) to implement methodologies through a series of place-based studies in partnership with 60 communities at 8 regional hubs, each constituting a different natural environment; and 3) to aggregate and distill data from the place-based studies to advance knowledge on the environment, food systems, and community resources. Through this convergent and collaborative model, the center advances not only what we know about interactions between the natural world and humans, but also how we investigate and address related societal challenges. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.