IPHRC Welcomes Shane Keepness
Jan 10, 2017
IPHRC Welcomes Shane Keepness
by Austin Josephson
Indigenous Peoples Health Research Centre is pleased to welcome Shane Keepness, Indigenous Research Engagement Platform Specialist (IREPS). Shane is a Ph.D. candidate and is looking forward to working with IPHRC.
“I’m just excited to be here and definitely challenging myself and maybe doing research, writing, being a part of upcoming projects and also establishing your relationships with communities” he says.
As part of his PhD. work at the University of Victoria, Shane is interested in community research and had the unique opportunity to do a course in Hawaii, more specifically the Big Island and Oahu.
“I do a lot of land-based type of work in Indigenous communities so for instance my last course that I just finished doing was in Hawaii” says Shane. “We had a whole week where we did land based stuff, so they do a lot of community gardens, different types of things.”
Shane feels this opportunity has helped him with his PhD.
“It’s all centered around Indigenous health and so I kind of framed what I want to do for my Ph.D. is similar with that as well too, so it’s a lot of hunting, gardening, and community health.”
Shane appreciates the work he has done and the important aspect of community involvement.
“I think that I really like that type of work because it’s really practical” he says. It’s really affective because it involves the whole community from youth to older people so everyone has a part in it and you can just tell it’s a really empowering process because people are helping out and at the end of the day it’s beneficial for their health and it just brings community together.”
Shane hopes to bring the knowledge he obtained in Hawaii to Saskatchewan.
“A lot of the stuff that they do is really, it kind of brings community together and I think that’s something that needs to be done more so on the prairies. Community events , some of the stuff that they’re doing is pretty interesting to see, kind of see how they get together and do things. It’s like something I wouldn’t mind seeing here.”
Please visit Shane’s website to learn more about him and his work
http://www.shanekeepness.com
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