Dr. Jessica Kolopenuk and Ricky W.A. Smith x Ethical Grounds
Seminar Room #10031
700 University Ave, Toronto, ON
University of Toronto
The 2025-26 Technoscience Salon Series :: Ethical Grounds is excited to host Dr. Jessica Kolopenuk (University of Alberta) and Dr. Ricky W. A. Smith (George Mason University) for a discussion on the coloniality of research ethics.
As part of this years series "Ethical Grounds," we are exploring how Indigenous Science is taking the lead in developing methods of Indigenous research suited to data and computationally-driven research conditions, shifting environmental regulations and needs, and transforming scientific policies, protocols, and practices.
Dr. Jessica Kolopenuk (Ininiw/Cree, Peguis First Nation) is an Associate Professor and the Alberta Health Services Research Chair in Indigenous Health at the University of Alberta’s Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry. Her research and policy leadership advance Indigenous governance, data sovereignty, and self-determination in science, health, and genomics. Drawing on critical Indigenous theory, her work interrogates how power operates through scientific and health research, while creating pathways for Indigenous peoples to lead and transform these fields. Dr. Kolopenuk co-founded the Indigenous Science, Technology, and Society (Indigenous STS) research and training program and the Summer internship for INdigenous peoples in Genomics Canada (SING Canada).
Dr. Rick W. A. Smith is an Assistant Professor of Anthropology in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology and Women and Gender Studies at George Mason University. Dr. Smith’s work sits at the intersections of genomics and queer, feminist, and Indigenous Science and Technology Studies (STS) to critically analyze and disrupt the co-constitution of science and colonialism. He works closely with both Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities to co-produce critical genomic analyses of colonialism and its resistors, past and present. His work also analyzes the formation of colonial masculinity and the sexual politics of Nature. Dr. Smith is a former faculty member and co-founder of the Summer internship for INdigenous peoples in Genomics (SING) Canada, and is founder of the Critical Molecular Anthropology Lab (CMAL) at George Mason University.