Directors
Build community. Relationships guide the development of my research, from the initiation of an idea, to the development and implementation of a project, to the final output. When you take a community-driven research approach to understanding an issue, you have a better chance of asking the right questions, in the right way.
— Dr. Jaime Cidro, Canada Research Chair in Health & Culture.
Dr. Julie Nagam
Director of the Aabijijiwan New Media Lab
Co-Director of the Kishaadigeh Collaborative Research Centre
Dr. Julie Nagam (Metis/German/Syrian) is a Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Arts, Collaboration and Digital Media and the former Research Chair of Indigenous Arts of North America which was a joint position with the Winnipeg Art Gallery. Dr. Nagam is an Associate Professor in the department of Art History at the University of Winnipeg. She is the inaugural Artistic Director for 2020 and 2022 for Nuit Blanche Toronto, the largest public exhibition in North America. Dr. Nagam's SSHRC research includes digital makerspaces + incubators, mentorship, digital media + design, international collaborations and place-based knowledge. She is a collective member of GLAM, which works on curatorial activism, Indigenous methodologies, public art, digital technologies, and engagement with place. As a scholar and artist, she is interested in revealing the ontology of land, which contains memory, knowledge and living histories. Dr. Nagam’s scholarship, curatorial and artistic practice has been featured nationally and internationally.
Dr. Jaime Cidro
Co-Director of the Kishaadigeh
Collaborative Research Centre
Dr. Jamie Cidro is a Professor in the Department of Anthropology and the Director of the Master’s in Development Practice Program at the University of Winnipeg. She is also a CIHR-funded Canada Research Chair in Health and Culture. Dr. Cidro takes a collaborative approach to her research on Indigenous maternal and child health, partnering with many Indigenous organizations and communities on her projects. Currently she is examining how an Indigenous doula program can address poor health, social, and cultural outcomes for First Nations women who travel for birth in partnership with First Nations Health and Social Secretariat of Manitoba and the Manitoba Indigenous Doulas Initiative. She’s also collaborating with community partners in Colombia to explore maternal and child health in remote Colombian Indigenous communities through a Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Advanced Scholars Award. Her other appointments include University of Winnipeg Indigenous Academic Lead 2018-2019, Associate Director of the UAKN Prairie Region, and UWinnipeg’s Indigenous Research Scholar 2018.