Kelly Bannister

Kelly Bannister, M.Sc., Ph.D., is Director of the POLIS Project on Ecological Governance. Her background is in Ethnobiology and her focus is on ethical and legal issues in research involving biodiversity and Indigenous cultural knowledge. She is interested in the potential of local governance mechanisms (e.g., codes of ethics, community research protocols) to address power relations and facilitate equitable research practices. She is involved in the creation of new institutional frameworks (i.e., principles, policies, practices) that support mutually-beneficial collaborative research between universities, rural communities and Aboriginal peoples.