WELCOME TO THE INDIGENOUS ORGANIZATIONS' AND COMMUNITIES' RESEARCH LAB
RESEARCH
"Indigenous research, according to Indigenous scholars, is a ceremony and must be respected as such." (Wilson, 2003, p. 175)
INDIGENOUS EMPLOYMENT EXPERIENCES
2019-present
We are all too familiar with the sad stats that follow around many of North America's host peoples. Many of these domains are impacted by the experience of poverty and job insecurity, but unfortunately the research about employment, what it is, and what should be is scattered and disorganized. We are working to expand a research program to improve employment experiences, increase employment and income, and translate those needs into a language that organizations are familiar with.
AIM-HI INDIGENOUS MENTORSHIP EVALUATION
2018-Present
Mentorship is a traditional form of education in Indigenous societies, so it no surprise that Indigenous faculty, students, and their families advocate for mentorship in academia. In the health sciences, mentorship has the potential to improve Indigenous representation (i.e., more Indigenous doctors, nurses, and health workers), increase trust between doctor and care-giver, better integrated cultural competence in health care, improve health outcomes for Indigenous clients, and provide stable employment for Indigenous health workers. The term mentorship however does not have a universal definition. Mentorship among Indigenous people is thought of and practiced differently than it is in Western culture. We have developed a model of Indigenous mentorship within the health sciences and are working to validate it. See more about the AIM-HI network (https://www.ucalgary.ca/network/aim-hi) or the larger IMNP (https://cihr-irsc.gc.ca/e/49453.html).
WHAT IS INDIGENOUS STUDIES?
2020
You may have an idea in mind of what Indigenous Studies is or what it should be. But in truth there is no uniform definition. Some of us view it as a specialization within Ethnic studies. Some of us as a politically fought for space to represent Indigenous intellectual traditions and scholarship, and some of us a place to experience culture and build community. We took an empirical approach to this question and content analyzed 238 Indigenous studies websites across Canada, the US, Australia, and New Zealand to see how the discipline was representing itself.
RESEARCH EXPERIENCE FOR UNDERGRADUATES PROGRAM EVALUATION
2014-present
This project is a program evaluation of the Center of Climate and Aerosol Research's 10-week paid summer research program for undergraduates at Portland State University. The program is chartered to recruit students from rural localities and/or American Indian heritage. Now in it's 7th year, the program accepts students on an annual basis (https://www.pdx.edu/ccar/reu-0).
CULTURALLY ADAPTED MENTAL HEALTH PROGRAMMING
2019-present
Regardless of the evidence, having culturally-based or culturally-integrative options for mental health programs is an issue of self-determination, decolonization, Indigenization, and multiculturalism. So such options must be developed and available. That said, a little evidence doesn't hurt. We are currently conducting a content analysis of mental health programming that has been based on or integrated Indigenous culture to identify how culture is integrated and what its effects are.
INDIGENOUS ALLYSHIP
2019-present
Sometimes being an ally is risky; sometimes it's popular. First, we wanted to know what groups of non-Indigenous people there are, in terms of their ideas about Indigenous people and how to act in solidarity with them. Second, we wanted to know whether they considered themselves as allies. Using a fancy method (called Q-methodology), we identified four groups of non-Indigenous people in terms of their orientations toward Indigenous people. The groups vary in important ways, but all groups have members who self-identify as allies. The next step is to define which of these groups are most closely aligned with the needs of Indigenous stakeholders.
INDIGENOUS EXPERIENCES WITH THE POLICE
2021
This project is a service-oriented collaboration with the Portland Committee on Community-Engaged Policing. The aims are to investigate how Indigenous encounters with the police are represented in the scholarly literature, in public media, and social media. Recruitment for undergraduate researchers is underway (see https://taylorinstitute.ucalgary.ca/students/undergraduate/research-on-global-challenges/research-streams).
LAB MEMBERS
Principal Investigator    Graduate Students    Undergraduate Students    Research Assistants
Supervisor - Principal Investigator
Adam T. Murry (Apache), PhD, is an assistant professor at the University of Calgary where he runs the Indigenous Organizations and Communities Development Research lab. He is co-principal investigator for the Alberta Indigenous Mentorship in Health Innovation (AIM-HI) network and Network Environment for Indigenous Health Research (NEIHR) in Canada, and conducts research on Indigenous employment, mentorship, allyship, education, Indigenous studies, substance use, mental health, sustainability, and ministry. Dr. Murry has multiple peer-reviewed publications and book chapters, serves on several diversity and Indigenous-specific committees, and consults with both the non-profit and Tribal sector.
Graduate Student
Elaine is a second year MSc student. She has interests in racial diversity, cross-cultural research, prejudice and discrimination, and organizational mentorship and leadership. For her masters thesis, she is examining the validity of an Indigenous mentor evaluation tool that can be applied to academic and organizational settings. Outside of academia Elaine enjoys hiking, playing board games, spending time with friends, and watching Netflix.
Graduate Student
Alvan is going into their second year in the Industrial and Organizational Psychology Program at the University of Calgary. Alvan graduated their undergrad with a BA in Psychology and BA (Honours) in Sociocultural Anthropology. Alvan has research interests in human-technology interaction at work, meaning/meaningfulness of work, organizational culture/climate, system theories, network theories, and information management. Outside of academia, Alvan enjoys binge reading random non-fiction books, video games, and dreaming about owning a cat.
Undergraduate researcher
Queenie is a BSc graduate of Psychology (Honours, University of Calgary) and Biology (McGill University). She is collaborating with Dr. Murry on a project describing integration of culture in mental health programs for Indigenous clients. Queenie aspires toward a doctorate in Clinical Psychology.
Undergraduate researcher
Miranda is a BA graduate of Psychology (University of Calgary). She is working in collaboration with Dr. Murry and fellow lab members on both the Indigenous Allyship project; exploring the allyship approaches of non-Indigenous people and which are most conducive to serving the needs of the Indigenous community, as well as the Indigenous Employment project; looking at the breadth and depth of existing knowledge and research in the area of Indigenous employment across the globe. Miranda aspires toward a Master's in Counselling Psychology with a special interest in working with women and youth.
Undergraduate Research Fellow (PURE)/Honours Student
Melanie (right) is in her fourth and final year of undergraduate studies in psychology at the University of Calgary. She is embarking on her second collaboration with Dr. Murry, a qualitative study on Indigenous employment experience based in Indigenous Storywork methodologies for her Honours thesis. In summer 2020, Melanie completed her PURE funded research project with Dr. Murry, a systematic literature review and content analysis, focused on international Indigenous employment.
Undergraduate research fellow (PURE)
Emily is a second year Commerce major working on the Indigenous Studies project alongside Tya.
Undergraduate research fellow (ISSP)
Tya is currently a senior undergraduate student studying Honors Biological Anthropology at the University of Calgary. Throughout her undergraduate career she has assisted in mainly indigenous focused research, which has included chronic disease and tobacco rates on Canadian First Nations reserves. Tya is currently collaborating with Dr. Murry on a project investigating best practices in the Indigneous Studies discipline.
Doctoral researcher
Elena is collaborating with Dr. Murry on a project outlining how allyship with Indigenous people is approached by non-Indigenous people, and what types of allyship approaches are conducive with Indigenous community members' expectations and needs.