Health and Horizon webcast

The UND School of Medicine & Health Sciences (SMHS) Department of Biomedical Sciences and Library Resources teams have joined forces for a new webcast entitled “Health & Horizon.”

Hosted are Sara Westall, M.L.I.S., M.S., and Masfique Mehedi, Ph.D., this monthly webcast series will highlight innovative research and scholarship taking place across the SMHS.

The first episode of Health & Horizon will be broadcast live via Zoom at noon on Monday, June 1, and feature Shawnda Schroeder, Ph.D., assistant professor in the SMHS Department of Indigenous Health, who will discuss her research into how Indigenous knowledge and relational pedagogy can reshape graduate education via a platform called PhotoVoice.

Guided by Indigenous frameworks, including the Medicine Wheel and the ceremonial teachings of Braiding Sweetgrass (Kimmerer, 2013), Schroeder’s study centers student-generated photographs, SHOWED narratives, and focus group dialogue to explore how Indigenous doctoral students experience relationality, safety, and academic purpose within graduate education. Inductive thematic analysis revealed that the seminar format operates as a healing and relational academic space where Indigenous knowledges are affirmed, generational responsibility is honored, and community is intentionally cultivated. Findings contribute to qualitative scholarship in education by illustrating how culturally grounded, relational pedagogies disrupt deficit narratives and support Indigenous doctoral thriving. Implications are offered for reimagining graduate education through Indigenous epistemologies and participatory inquiry.