CIFAR (Canadian Institute for Advanced Research) is committed to identifying new opportunities for early career scholars from diverse communities to establish new connections, take calculated risks, and pursue bold research.
The CIFAR Forum on Radical Interdisciplinarity – Indigenous Knowledges held in Banff, Alberta in late March gathered together 50 international Indigenous early-career researchers to seed ideas and form new collaborations, prompting participants to explore innovative, Indigenous solutions that transcend traditional disciplinary boundaries. This first gathering was co-chaired by Professors Tracey MacIntosh and Sheryl Lightfoot, and elder and Professor Florence Gladfield. Partners (Smith, Webber, Kukutai) were invited through international research relationships. A steering committee of 10 ECR’s were nominated by Chairs and partners. Gathering attendees nominated.
Aboriginal scholars Dr Coen Hird (UQ), Dr Luke Williams (UQ) as invited steering committee members, Bobby Maher (ANU), Dr Rez Calman (CDU), and PNG scholar Dr Irene Semos (IFC/UQ) were invited to join this CIFAR initiative by Assoc. Prof Hinekura Smith (IFC & CIFAR partner). This unique opportunity to meet as international Indigenous relations is the beginning of a new multi-year CIFAR research platform to support interdisciplinary Indigenous knowledges, and to mentor Indigenous early career research trajectories.
The CIFAR network recognises that integrating diverse knowledge systems is essential for tackling global problems that transcend colonial borders. Participants are currently developing seeding grants to scope and scale international research collaborations. The forum convene again in 2027.
Shared here, with their permission, are some reflections from the Indigenous ECR’s who travelled from Australia. They aim to write a co-authored academic article about the power of international Indigenous connection, collaboration and relationality.
"It makes me think of the importance of groundwork for relationships in the seeding of collaboration, in the sense that many of our in-built urges to be generative/productive took a back seat to the idea that establishing relationships with global Indigenous scholars was itself extremely generative or perhaps that the means were the ends. I was honestly taken aback by the connections I formed and saw forming and by the sheer level of intellectual discussion and commitment on topics of shared interest"
"It is a constant state of flux, moving in between Australia, PNG and the Pacific. Then to the global level, as indigenous scholars our struggles with knowledge and in relation to our kin and for our people draws a lot of parallels, however, it is the contextualising of these our thought processes that are quite unique. Thankful I got to tease out through the conversations with other scholars of similar contexts, a bit more on digital and AI capabilities and how/when/where for more wayfinding."
"I see this as a great opportunity to foster global research networks to learn from other cultures experiences and wisdom to then advance my research practice back in Australia. The connections made mainly revolved around exploring Indigenous food systems globally, understanding food sovereignty movements in other Indigenous communities, and learning from the successes and practices that others have had in policy and other empowerment movements to help progress Indigenous self-determination efforts in Australia."
"There has been much commentary already about the connection between planetary health and health equity for women and girls globally, and I have been thinking about how this could be more strongly articulated from an Indigenous perspective.
Other common treads in the discussions I picked up on were Ancestral intelligence, epistemic justice, and being in good relation. By the end of the two days, it was clear to me that Indigenous scholars, my peers, first prioritise doing research in a good way. It was all just so uplifting!"
