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Academic Papers

"Learning from knowledge co‐production research and practice in the twenty‐first century: global lessons and what they mean for collaborative research in Nunatsiavut"

This review by Melanie Zurba et al., 2021 explored knowledge coproduction principles and approaches from 2000-2020, and focuses on these aspects in the context ofthe Sustainable Nunatsiavut Futures Project and the Nunatsiavut region.

Using these principles to distribute power in projects such as the Sustainable Nunatsiavut Futures Project has shown immense potential, but it has also been identified that systemic & contextualized issues, such as data sovereignty must be consistently addressed in order to overcome roadblocks that can halt equitable sustainability science.

"The power and precarity of knowledge co-production: A case study of SakKijânginnaniattut Nunatsiavut Sivunitsangit (the Sustainable Nunatsiavut Futures Project)"

Fifteen Inuit and non-Inuit project members, including Inuit Research Coordinators, academics, and project management, draw from their individual and collective experiences with KCP to disentangle its benefits and challenges for collaborative research and practice.

This narrative reflection critically examines the principles and practices of transdisciplinary knowledge co-production (KCP) through the SakKijânginnaniattut Nunatsiavut Sivunitsangit (Sustainable Nunatsiavut Futures) project.

In this context the authors found that benefits of KCP emerged from:

adherence to group-identified values, such as shared humility
commitments to relationships,
trust,
and support for early career researchers

Specific challenges were tied to:

cross-cultural communication,
the very meaning of KCP and its focus on 'production',
and the difficulties of distanced work and collaboration.

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"Megabenthic biodiversity in culturally and ecologically important coastal regions of Northern Labrador"

Check out this blog post by Oceana Canada to learn more about the vulnerable ecosystems and species encountered & what this means for resoucre management and protected area decisions.

The Imappivut Expedition set out in the summer of 2019, conducting visual surveys of the seafloor off the coast of Hebron, Okak and Nain. Marine benthic surveys using a camera sled and a baited remote underwater video system revealed important knowledge gaps identified by the Nunatsiavut Government and Inuit communities regarding benthic biodiversity and habitat structure within major geomorphology features.

This paper highlighted that knowledge co-production studies often converge on four interrelated principles:

Recognition of contextual diversity bounding knowledge co-production
Preemptive and intentional engagement with Indigenous knowledge holders
Formation of shared understanding of the purpose of knowledge co-production, and
Empowerment of knowledge holders throughout the co-production cycle.