Dr Amohia Boulton (Research Director), Dr Logan Hamley (Intern Lead and Senior Researcher), and Darcy Karaka (Researcher) had the privilege of attending the Global Indigenous Data Sovereignty Conference on Ngambri-Ngunnawal Country in Canberra, Australia between March 31 and April 3. The conference marked a decade since the first Indigenous Data Sovereignty event in 2015, hosted by the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia. At that event, attendees discussed the implications of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) for data.
The GIDSov Conference 2025 brought together Indigenous Peoples from across the globe for three days to reflect on the advances in Indigenous Data Sovereignty (IDSov) and Indigenous Data Governance (IDGov) and map future pathways and aspirations for the next decade. The conference was opened with a formal Welcome to Country run by elders Dr Matilda House (Ngambri (Walgalu), Wallaballooa (Ngunnawal), Pajong (Gundungurra) and Wiradjuri (Erambie) Peoples) and her son Paul House. This Welcome to Country included a Smoking Ceremony, as well as placing of ochre from the area on the forehead, representing an invitation from the home people to speak.
Following the ceremony, we were welcomed into the Lowitja CulturalCentre, recently renamed in recognition of immense contribution Aunty LowitjaO’Donoghue made to Aboriginal and TorresStrait Islanders rights and wellbeing during her lifetime. The teampresented their initial IDSov strategy, TePā Raraunga o Whakauae, inspired by a Hauiti pā, Okahupokia - situatedabove the banks of the Rangitīkei River. The Pā Tūwatawata provides theframework for the Whakauae strategy for enacting datasovereignty. Metaphorically, each partof the pā is likened to an element in the strategy, e.g. the Pātaka Kai or storagehouse within the Pā Tūwatawata, for the purposes of the strategy takes on therole of data repositories, while Rua (underground storage pits) represent theprotected repositories for archival and ancestral knowledge.
The presentation was well received at the conference, with various attendees appreciating the deep relationships between Hauiti mātauranga, spaces and the work.
There were a number of highlights from the conference, from both a professional and personal perspective. The conference included an array of panels where speakers outlined different Indigenous nations’ and communities’ implementation of data sovereignty and governance. One presenter, Claudia Tomateo, provided a sophisticated representation of the Quechua equivalent of maramataka, bringing together Quechua communities to craft maps highlighting the times and locations for different activities like harvesting, weaving, fishing, and food preparation.
Dr Boulton was excited to catch up with a number of colleagues from Aotearoa and beyond who she had not seen in several years including Cyril Mako who hails from Mōkai Pātea Nui Tonu; Maui Hudson who we worked with many years ago on Rongoā research; and Leona Star from Manitoba, Canada. Ten years ago, Leona along with colleagues from the University of Manitoba and the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs (AMC) led a study in which Whakauae were partners. The Partners for Engagement and Knowledge Exchange or PEKES study was funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health and culminated in a visit by Leona and her colleagues to Whakauae and to Rātā marae in 2014. Leona is now the Director of Research for the First Nations Health and Social Secretariat of Manitoba and is the Chair of the First Nations Information Governance Centre.
The team left the conference feeling inspired about the work that is occurring in the Indigenous data sovereignty and data governance spaces. While there is much for us to do as an organisation, especially if we are also to support our iwi owner with its data aspirations, we look forward to integrating the learnings from this conference into our nascent data sovereignty strategy in coming months.
Global Indigenous Data Sovreignty Conference Day 1 & 2 recap - Videography by Wolf Lab Studios
Dr Amohia Boulton (Research Director), Dr Logan Hamley (Intern Lead and Senior Researcher), and Darcy Karaka (Researcher) had the privilege of attending the Global Indigenous Data Sovereignty Conference on Ngambri-Ngunnawal Country in Canberra, Australia between March 31 and April 3. The conference marked a decade since the first Indigenous Data Sovereignty event in 2015, hosted by the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia. At that event, attendees discussed the implications of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) for data.
The GIDSov Conference 2025 brought together Indigenous Peoples from across the globe for three days to reflect on the advances in Indigenous Data Sovereignty (IDSov) and Indigenous Data Governance (IDGov) and map future pathways and aspirations for the next decade. The conference was opened with a formal Welcome to Country run by elders Dr Matilda House (Ngambri (Walgalu), Wallaballooa (Ngunnawal), Pajong (Gundungurra) and Wiradjuri (Erambie) Peoples) and her son Paul House. This Welcome to Country included a Smoking Ceremony, as well as placing of ochre from the area on the forehead, representing an invitation from the home people to speak.
Following the ceremony, we were welcomed into the Lowitja CulturalCentre, recently renamed in recognition of immense contribution Aunty LowitjaO’Donoghue made to Aboriginal and TorresStrait Islanders rights and wellbeing during her lifetime. The teampresented their initial IDSov strategy, TePā Raraunga o Whakauae, inspired by a Hauiti pā, Okahupokia - situatedabove the banks of the Rangitīkei River. The Pā Tūwatawata provides theframework for the Whakauae strategy for enacting datasovereignty. Metaphorically, each partof the pā is likened to an element in the strategy, e.g. the Pātaka Kai or storagehouse within the Pā Tūwatawata, for the purposes of the strategy takes on therole of data repositories, while Rua (underground storage pits) represent theprotected repositories for archival and ancestral knowledge.
The presentation was well received at the conference, with various attendees appreciating the deep relationships between Hauiti mātauranga, spaces and the work.
There were a number of highlights from the conference, from both a professional and personal perspective. The conference included an array of panels where speakers outlined different Indigenous nations’ and communities’ implementation of data sovereignty and governance. One presenter, Claudia Tomateo, provided a sophisticated representation of the Quechua equivalent of maramataka, bringing together Quechua communities to craft maps highlighting the times and locations for different activities like harvesting, weaving, fishing, and food preparation.
Dr Boulton was excited to catch up with a number of colleagues from Aotearoa and beyond who she had not seen in several years including Cyril Mako who hails from Mōkai Pātea Nui Tonu; Maui Hudson who we worked with many years ago on Rongoā research; and Leona Star from Manitoba, Canada. Ten years ago, Leona along with colleagues from the University of Manitoba and the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs (AMC) led a study in which Whakauae were partners. The Partners for Engagement and Knowledge Exchange or PEKES study was funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health and culminated in a visit by Leona and her colleagues to Whakauae and to Rātā marae in 2014. Leona is now the Director of Research for the First Nations Health and Social Secretariat of Manitoba and is the Chair of the First Nations Information Governance Centre.
The team left the conference feeling inspired about the work that is occurring in the Indigenous data sovereignty and data governance spaces. While there is much for us to do as an organisation, especially if we are also to support our iwi owner with its data aspirations, we look forward to integrating the learnings from this conference into our nascent data sovereignty strategy in coming months.
Global Indigenous Data Sovreignty Conference Day 1 & 2 recap - Videography by Wolf Lab Studios
