Native Research Methods Symposium to Focus on Indigenous Futurity & Storytelling

The 3rd annual Native Research Methods Symposium featuring guest speakers, Matika Wilbur and Dr. Laura Harjo, will take place from 1:30 to 6:00 PM on Monday, February 23, 2026 at the S.J. Quinney College of Law Moot Courtroom.

Danielle Endres, professor of communication and director of the Environmental Humanities program, said, “The Native Research Methods symposium is an opportunity to highlight the University's responsibility to engage in ethical research collaborations with Native Nations and communities. It's been wonderful to see the College of Humanities involved in this campus-wide initiative alongside the Center for Native Excellence and Tribal Engagement and other colleges and departments working to ensure that campus researchers have the tools to practice Indigenous Research Methods."

In the three years since its inception, the U of U’s Native Research Methods Group has received funding from the VPR’s 1U4U Seed Grant initiative, hosted annual symposia, and organized annual breakfast mixers. The annual symposia have been hosted by the research methods group to build relationships between academic, medical, and community researchers.  

This year’s event, themed around storytelling and imagining better futures, will feature a keynote from Matika Wilbur (Swinomish and Tulalip), one of the nation’s leading photographers, on the ethics and best practices of Indigenous storytelling. She has spent over a decade creating Project 562: Changing the Way We See Native America—a multi-platform narrative project dedicated to reshaping how we understand Native peoples in the twenty-first century.

Dr. Laura Harjo (Msvkoke), associate professor in the department of Native American studies at the University of Oklahoma and author of Spiral to the Stars: Mvskoke Tools of Futurity, will facilitate an interactive workshop where participants will learn tools for integrating Indigenous futurisms and storytelling methods into their research practice.

A group of scholars from the University of Utah will discuss their own research in conversation with Matika Wilbur's keynote. This panel will be chaired by Dr. Harjo and include: Liahnna Stanley, PhD (Poarch Band of Creek Indians), assistant professor in the department of communication, Ryan Bia, MBA-PhD trainee in molecular biology (Diné), Joaquin Lopez Huertas, M.Sc. Arch. (Am'aj Q'in), PhD candidate in city & metropolitan planning, and Ataya Cesspooch (Ute, Assiniboine, and Lakota), PhD candidate in environmental science, policy and management at UC Berkeley and 2024-2026 Annie Clark Tanner Fellow in Environmental Humanities.

This event is co-sponsored by the Center for Native Excellence and Tribal Engagement, College of Humanities, Environmental Humanities program, American West Center, the S.J. Quinney College of Law Wallace Stegner Center for Land, Resources, and the Natural Environment, and the Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine Office of Academic Culture and Community. This symposium is supported by the National Science Foundation Futures Engine in the Southwest.

This event is free and open to the public; please register in advance through Eventbrite.  

About the University of Utah Native Research Methods Group

The Native Research Methods group at the University of Utah works to strengthen relationships between academic, medical, and community researchers. The group builds structures of support for Native Research Methods and ethical engagement between universities and Indigenous communities and Native nations.