About Us
Cluster for Indigenous Engagement, Development, and Research (CIEDAR) was founded in March 2021 through funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) as part of the CoVaRR-Net, a rapid-response research network created to better understand COVID-19 variants of concern. CIEDAR was founded by Dr. Michelle Johnson-Jennings, Dr. Kimberly Huyser and Dr. Katherine Collins. From the success of the UBC Grant for Catalyzing Research Cluster. CIEDAR has continued as The Cluster for Indigenous Engagement, Development, and Research Pandemic Preparedness (CIEDAR P2).
CIEDAR is an Indigenous-led team that offers research support to Indigenous communities, including survey methodology, data analysis, intervention development, and program evaluation, to address issues relevant to Indigenous wellbeing. CIEDAR is dedicated to promoting the CANOE (Circumspect Awareness and Navigation of Outcomes and Expectations) approach through workshops that facilitate community-engaged research with Indigenous communities. In doing so, our goals are to support the needs of communities as identified by Indigenous peoples themselves and to amplify Indigenous voices and stories to effect change.
The CANOE Approach workshop is grounded in the CANOE (Circumspect Awareness and Navigation of Outcomes and Expectations) framework, originally developed by Katherine A. Collins, Kimberly R. Huyser, and Michelle Johnson-Jennings as part of CoVaRR-Net and later published in The Lancet Global Health. The workshop development has been supported through funding from the UBC Indigenous Strategic Initiatives (ISI) Fund.
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CIEDAR Co-Founder
University of British Columbia
Dr. Kimberly R. Huyser is a Professor of Sociology at the University of British Columbia. She is an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation and grew up on the Navajo reservation in Arizona, USA. Dr. Huyser received her BA from Calvin University in 2003 and her Ph.D. – Sociology in 2010 from the University of Texas at Austin with an Indigenous Studies Graduate Portfolio and a traineeship from the Population Research Center at UT, Austin. Her scholarship combines medical sociology and the sociology of race and ethnicity. The central intellectual motivation driving her research agenda is to gain a deeper understanding of the social conditions that undermine health, as well as to identify the cultural and social resources leveraged by racial and ethnic groups in order to further their individual and collective health and well-being. Her current and future research contributes to our understanding of the social determinants of health problems faced by Indigenous peoples, and it furthers our comprehension of the social mechanisms that undergird population health.
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CIEDAR Co-FounderUniversity of Washington
Michelle Johnson-Jennings (Choctaw Nation-enrolled Tribal member) is a mother of four, renowned scholar, professor, and leader in land-based healing for Indigenous Peoples around the world. Over the decades, Michelle has co-developed land-based health interventions entrenched in ancestral guidelines to encourage a renewed commitment to well-being and revitalization of medicine, food, and land-based practices. As an Indigenous health psychologist, Michelle sees CIEDAR as essential in providing a network of sharing among Indigenous communities across the world to prevent variants of concern. In particular, this network brings top scientists and Indigenous partners together to exchange strategies and ideas to prevent and reduce the risks of COVID-19 variants of concern, especially as related to land-based healing practices.
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CIEDAR Co-FounderUniversity of Saskatchewan
Katie Collins (mixed Cree and Irish ancestry, citizen of the Métis Nation) is a social psychologist who strongly believes in the power of research to make the world a better place. Being a part of CIEDAR provides Katie the opportunity to make a difference – to improve the lives of Indigenous Peoples and strengthen communities.