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U.S. National Science Foundation Center for Braiding Indigenous Knowledges and Science
Interconnected and Urgent Research Areas
Supported by the National Science Foundation's Science and Technology Centers: Integrative Partnerships program, the Center for Braiding Indigenous Knowledges and Science (NSF CBIKS) examines how to effectively and ethically braid Indigenous and Western science research, education, and practice related to the urgent and interconnected challenges of climate adaptation, food security, and preservation of cultural heritage and place for our partner communities.
Established in 2023, NSF CBIKS is centered at UMass Amherst with university and Indigenous community partners across the United States and the globe.
NSF CBIKS's research is fully community-driven, often conducted in rural areas located throughout the United States and globally, and carried out in full collaboration with our community partners. NSF CBIKS education components involve students at the pre-K–12, undergraduate, and graduate levels, training a skilled workforce to lead in the ethical braiding of knowledge systems, particularly Indigenous and Western knowledge. NSF CBIKS knowledge exchange activities provide workshops, training, and internships for policymakers and Tribal, state, and federal government agencies who manage and care for our nation's lands, waters, and cultural places. NSF CBIKS brings together arts and storytelling as a means to make scientific research accessible for students, Indigenous communities, and diverse public and professional audiences.
NSF CBIKS Central and Regional Research Hubs
Map of NSF CBIKS, including NSF CBIKS Central at the University of Massachusetts Amherst (star) and key partner institutions that serve as NSF CBIKS regional research hubs (dots). Hub institutions are listed on the NSF CBIKS Regional Research Hubs page. All international partners and projects are supported through internal UMass funding.
NSF CBIKS brings together multiple knowledge systems to solve our most urgent challenges and focuses on innovation and workforce development to create a path forward for climate adaptation, food security, and preservation of cultural heritage and place for our partner communities.
NSF CBIKS's Three Components
Transforming research by braiding scientific approaches.
Regional Research Hubs
At eight regional hubs across the U.S. and in Canada, Aotearoa New Zealand, and Australia, NSF CBIKS uses a community-based approach to develop and carry out rural place-based transdisciplinary projects. We use a braided methodology that brings together Indigenous and Western approaches in our partnerships with 57 communities and look forward to developing new partnerships and hubs.
Kumu Working Group
A thematic research working group distills key lessons from regional hub projects to produce methodologies and ethical guidelines that utilize science in innovative ways throughout the research process. NSF CBIKS research is grounded in relationality, and data sovereignty is foundational to the center. These and other working groups provide models for researchers in STEM disciplines; these are available for use by numerous state, federal, and Tribal agencies.
Knowledge Base
A publicly available knowledge base stores, organizes, and shares methods, ethics, and best practices for connecting Western and Indigenous science. This helps to ensure that students, scientists, and communities have access to what we learn together at NSF CBIKS and to resources that others have produced, contributing to enhanced climate adaptation planning and care of Tribal homelands, public lands, and cultural places and landscapes integral to the U.S.
Workforce Development
NSF CBIKS provides STEM training for leading scientists and government agency personnel to empower American workers, strengthen innovation, and preserve our nation’s natural and historical heritage. The center addresses the nation’s growing need for long-term food security and sustainable agricultural and ecosystem management solutions. NSF CBIKS supports workforce development through partnerships with academic institutions, industry leaders, and government agencies to train key stakeholders in tackling complex global challenges like climate resilience, food security, and connection to historical places.
Training the Next Generation to Help All Students Succeed
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To achieve our aim of training new scientists from all backgrounds, NSF CBIKS provides research assistantship and internship opportunities for all regional hubs.
Education and knowledge exchange activities include:
- Developing formal STEM education materials, including college-level Indigenous knowledge bundles and an Indigenous science course for K–12 teachers
- Developing informal science education activities, including Indigenous science museum exhibits and Indigenous science STEM camps and after-school programs
- Sharing what we learn using Indigenous teaching methods, such as training for museum and government agency staff utilizing storywork and accessible arts-based formats
Climate Resilience and Sustainability
Top scientists, engineers, agricultural experts, and policymakers increasingly recognize the importance of Indigenous knowledge systems in making robust decisions about environmental resilience and in natural and cultural resource planning and management. Yet, Indigenous and Western sciences are based on very different knowledge systems, with differing practices through the stages of research.
Led by a team of predominantly Indigenous scholars and with an emphasis on mentoring and training Indigenous scientists, NSF CBIKS provides models, practices, methods, and ethical guidelines for braiding Indigenous knowledge and science together with current science practices.
We can learn many things with and from Indigenous peoples that can help our planet with climate adaptation and resilience.
Bonnie Dawn Newsom, CBIKS PI and Northeast Hub Co-Lead
Learn more about the vision and goals of the U.S. National Science Foundation Center for Braiding Indigenous Knowledges and Science (NSF CBIKS).
It's essential that we take Indigenous knowledge seriously, and that we do so with respect and care, following ethical protocols.
Ora Marek-Martinez, CBIKS PI and Southwest Hub Co-Lead
NSF CBIKS Principal Investigators
Sonya Atalay
NSF CBIKS Center Director
Provost Professor of Anthropology, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Professor of Anthropology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Ora Marek-Martinez
Coordinator for Broadening Participation Co-Lead, NSF CBIKS Southwest Hub
Assistant Professor of Anthropology
Associate Vice President, Office of Native American Initiatives
Northern Arizona University
Bonnie Newsom
Co-Lead, NSF CBIKS Northeast Hub
Associate Professor of Anthropology
Faculty Associate, Climate Change Institute
University of Maine
Jon Woodruff
Co-Lead, Science Review Circle
Professor of Geosciences
Co-Director, Northeast Climate Adaptation Science Center (NE CASC)
University of Massachusetts Amherst
International Network of Scholars
The NSF CBIKS network already includes dozens of top scholars leading innovative rural place-based research with Indigenous communities around the globe. And we aim to continue building trusted relationships, welcoming more Indigenous community partners, expanding the current regional hubs, and creating new ones.
Partner Organizations
NSF CBIKS is a partnership involving these institutions and organizations around the globe.
Listing of all partner organization:
This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation under grant number 2243258. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. National Science Foundation.