Weaving Indigenous knowledge into the scientific method

Scientists and funders with close links to local communities outline how Western teams can collaborate fairly and effectively with those groups.
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  1. Saima May Sidik
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Many scientists rely on Indigenous people to guide their work — by helping them to find wildlife, navigate rugged terrain or understand changing weather trends, for example. But these relationships have often felt colonial, extractive and unequal. Researchers drop into communities, gather data and leave — never contacting the locals again, and excluding them from the publication process.

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Nature 601, 285-287 (2022)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-00029-2

These interviews have been edited for length and clarity.

Updates & Corrections

  • Correction 24 January 2022: An earlier version of this feature erroneously implied that Natan Obed works with Alaskans. It is also implied that Mary Turnipseed is the only marine-conservation programme officer at the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.

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