The Chair’s research program especially focuses on global knowledge governance across the multiple but interrelated sites of sustainability, agriculture, food security, environment, biodiversity conservation, climate change, health, medicines, arts, and other epistemic traditions in which the diverse forms of informal knowledge production practices of the world’s Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLCs) intersect with formal science and technology-driven innovation.
Led by Dr. Chidi Oguamanam, the Chair’s program makes an original contribution to repositioning Indigenous knowledge custodians from old forms of knowledge governance to new models that are better suited to the technological advancements of the 21st Century. The exceptional interdisciplinarity of Dr. Oguamanam’s research has allowed him to pursue complex issues that cut across environmental law, biotechnology, IP rights, food security, health law, and ethics. His work has also been widely recognized for its strong theory-to-practice dimensions. Drawing upon his roots within Indigenous African heritage, he can link the experiences of African cultural communities with their Indigenous counterparts in Canada and globally and bring a deep understanding of the intricacies embedded in questions that examine local, traditional, and Indigenous knowledges in the context of intellectual property, innovation, and knowledge governance.
