Title: Embracing Indigenous Leadership: Designing Inclusive Studies that Drive Change

Abstract Information: Drawing upon diverse contexts and disciplines, this session explores the integration of Indigenous voices and knowledge within study design through the examination of compelling case studies. By centering Indigenous perspectives, methodologies, I will demonstrate how evaluation and learning work can embrace and amplify Indigenous leadership to inform strategy and drive change. In the first case study, I will delve into a collaborative research project between the 11 tribal nations of Minnesota and academic researchers where the presenter assembled a team of Native scholars who have examined the past, present, and future of Tribal-University relations since the University opened in 1851. These Tribal Research Fellows conducted place-based, tribally-based research using archival and Indigenous methodologies to interrogate a self-determined topic. This case study highlights the richness that can be gained by cultivating (bio)diversity through study design and implementation. Participants will explore strategies to build a community-based participatory study with tribes and Indigenous communities. Within the second case study we will examine a tribal outreach study focused on gaining input and understanding perception from the 12 federally recognized tribes, native organizations and native student body in Michigan about tribal-university relations for Michigan State University (MSU). The primary use of the information gathered was to inform the client’s strategic vision and planning, and the hiring of a new director. The information gathering process also provided the client with the opportunity to make new, repair, renew, and nourish existing relationships between it and the students, faculty, and staff, and tribal communities and organizations. This case study underscores the significance of cultural adaptation and flexibility in research design. Attendees will learn approaches to co-create experiences and products that can be useful and employed by community members to invite positive institutional change. Through the third case study, I will detail the design and implementation of a mid-term evaluation to hear directly from grassroots partners working at the frontlines and representing communities impacted by industrial bioenergy developments. Grassroots Solutions started with the values that the grantmakers embraced in their strategy, using that as a mandate to design the evaluation–from the nature and types of questions asked, to the process and methods used, and to the spaces made for analysis and sensemaking. This case study explores the finding related to Indigenous approaches to citizen science that subverts norms about who has appropriate expertise to monitor, assess, and decide about changes to the environment. The audience will learn about community-based research conducted by Indigenous communities focused on land and water. Synthesizing these case studies, this session identifies key principles for designing inclusive research studies that center Indigenous voices and knowledge. These principles push the evaluation and learning field toward the promotion of Indigenous leadership, so we can build toward a more just and equitable research landscape that protects Indigenous sovereignty and paradigms, honors the land and the history it holds, fosters positive social change, and advances collective well-being.