RISING VOICES, CHANGING COASTS: THE NATIONAL INDIGENOUS AND EARTH SCIENCES CONVERGENCE HUB – CONVERGENCE RESEARCH WITH INDIGENOUS COASTAL COMMUNITIES IN THE EARTH SCIENCES

Convergence research settings are critical areas for Indigenous communities to address pressing societal needs by engaging with an intellectually diverse cohort of researchers. In convergence research spaces, the intersection of Indigenous knowledges and western knowledge systems can potentially foster the co-production of knowledge that leads to new approaches to problem solving. Inclusion of Indigenous knowledge systems into convergence research spaces is critical for engagement of Indigenous communities, however, challenges often exist in the process and method of engagement between Indigenous communities and physical and social scientists from academic and federal institutions.

The Rising Voices Changing Coasts hub (RVCC) at Haskell Indian Nations University fosters convergence research between earth scientists (social, ecosystem, and physical) and coastal Indigenous communities from four regions (Alaska, Hawaii, Louisiana, and Puerto Rico) that focus on climate change research. This project builds on a large (100+) diverse partnership between federal agencies, universities, and coastal Indigenous communities. The RVCC seeks to improve Earth System modeling and prediction of coastal processes to provide highly-usable and culturally relevant information for coastal Indigenous community partners.

From the Indigenous data governance lens, the RVCC is uniquely positioned to implement data governance principles such as CARE (Collective Benefit, Authority to Control, Responsibility, and Ethics) and FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) in the geosciences especially in a convergence research setting. In this presentation, we discuss challenges as the RVCC aims to construct a fit for purpose data ecosystem for its Indigenous community partners that support Indigenous data governance in the geosciences.