FISH 506Y

Community Driven Science: Developing Tools for Partnered Research with a Focus on Indigenous Communities and Aquatic Science

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Credit Value: 3 Credits

Schedule: Term 2, 2026

Prerequisites, Restrictions, and Notes: This course is ideal for graduate students and researchers who are interested in working collaboratively with Indigenous communities.

Description: This course will provide students and those new to community-driven research – especially in partnership with Indigenous communities – with the knowledge, skills, and ethical foundations needed to engage in anti-colonial research. With an emphasis on fisheries and aquatic research, this course challenges traditional academic approaches. Students will explore how to collaborate with Indigenous communities to co-create knowledge and engage in research supporting Indigenous sovereignty, knowledge systems, and priorities.

Class content will include: positionality, reflexivity, and relational accountability; Indigenous fisheries knowledge and Two-Eyed Seeing; co-creation of knowledge and ethical partnerships; guest speakers and field-based learning.

This course is anchored in the Centre for Indigenous Fisheries.


Course Instructor: Dr. Sara Cannon