Research is vital to the mission of Florida State University. Essential to learned discourse, scientific discovery, and medical breakthroughs, research creates knowledge and drives innovation. But research can also cause harm. The Office of Research protect the rights, data, and welfare of research participants by enforcing Office for Human Subject Protection and Institutional Review Board protocols and compliance with research regulations. These protections are necessary, yet their proceduralism reinforces the aims and assumptions of research itself without inviting question or reflection.
Research is not natural. Research is not neutral. Research is a construct, operating within a specific episteme that governs what can be known, asked, and validated. Conducting research “is not an innocent or distant academic exercise but an activity that has something at stake and that occurs in a set of political conditions,” writes Māori scholar Linda Tuhiwai Smith. At stake for Indigenous nations—nothing less than sovereignty, self-determination, and justice.
For scholars who want their work to account for the experiences and perspectives of Indigenous people, what does ethical research look like? To find out, a capacity audience of more than forty FSU scholars attended the inaugural Research Ethics Workshop hosted by the Native American and Indigenous Studies Center on March 3, 2026. An expert panel from the Seminole Tribe of Florida’s Tribal Historic Preservation Office (THPO) and Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Museum (ATTK) included Dr. Meryl Shriver-Rice, Head of the ATTK Museum Research Division; Dr. William Locascio, Head of the THPO Research Division; David Scheidecker, THPO Historian; Joseph Gilbert, ATTK Research Coordinator; and Danielle Simon, THPO Compliance Manager. “I am honored that the THPO and Museum brought so many of their senior researchers to Tallahassee and that FSU’s community showed up in force,” said NAIS Director Dr. Andrew Frank.
The NAIS Research Ethics Workshop explained both the discourse of decolonial scholarship and the practical processes academic researchers can implement. To begin, the panelists recommended a short reading list for scholars to orient their thinking about ethical research practices. All four of the suggested titles are available in the Florida State University Libraries:
Of course, the Seminole Tribe of Florida (STOF) conducts and publishes research of its own, but external researchers can also file for a research permit. Because “research projects and their outputs affect Native and Indigenous peoples’ lives today,” explains Dr. Meryl Shriver-Rice, “our Research Divisions do not create access to tribal citizens for researchers, and in general we do not grant access to researchers who want to study STOF citizens as human subjects.” Furthermore, attending to Indigenous voices might mean listening for meaning in their silence. “If you or your research team reach out to a tribal entity or Indigenous person, Seminole or not, and do not get a response, please respect this as a legitimate response,” she adds.
Ultimately, ethical research is a mutually beneficial partnership. Scholars can learn ethical research practices, promote them in their teaching, and have their manuscripts or creative works reviewed by the appropriate Indigenous or Native entities before publishing. As Dr. Frank concludes, “working alongside Indigenous communities and embracing their interests and expertise only makes the work that academics do more important, interesting, and rigorous.”
Written by Kimberly Windham, Humanities Librarian
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