Research Philosophy

I believe that research has the potential to do great things: contribute to informed decision-making, find solutions to the most complex problems, shift perspectives and understanding of the world, change policy, transform culture, lives, and society for the better. It has potential to expand capacities of people, foster equity, and improve lives. Research has the potential to help dismantle systems of oppression and power. But with this potential also comes the potential of research to also uphold and reinforce those systems of oppression, to reduce equity, to diminish lives. 

So, with research comes great responsibility.  

Value-Driven Research

My intention is to conduct holistic research rooted in place and responsive to society's greatest social and environmental needs. My research is rooted in a core set of values, including the "R's" of reciprocity, respect, relationship, responsibility, and relevance, adopted from local Indigenous colleagues like Michael Waasegiizhig Price and Indigenous scholars like R. Tsosie et al. (2022), and others. Humility, compassion, and gratitude are central to my research philosophy, alongside curiosity and creativity. 

Following from these values, as a white researcher working within the dominant scientific paradigm, I strive to practice long-time or generational thinking and an ethics of care. I practice an attitude of humility and life-long learning. I also practice accountability for helping to rectify past and ongoing injustices and aim to help transform systemically racist institutions and decolonize science.

I believe that conducting research with integrity and rooted in these values results in more transformative, beneficial, equitable, innovative, effective, and relevant research outcomes. 

Research approach

Stemming from my research philosophy, I strive to adopt the the following approach to research, acknowledging that research is a practice and I am always learning and growing:  

• I participate and lead trans-and interdisciplinary research partnerships based on genuine, long-term relationships with communities and participants. 

• I strive to conduct research that contributes to tangible benefits in research, policy, and decision-making. I prioritize applied research rooted in place that addresses local needs and supports local capacity while also adhering to rigorous academic standards and advancing scholarly knowledge through peer-reviewed publications. 

• I design research that supports local capacity and centers Indigenous, BIPOC and underrepresented voices and their ontologies and epistemologies. 

• I adopt decolonizing methodologies, including community-engaged and participatory methods for the co-production of research with communities. 

• I communicate results to participants, their communities, and decision-makers, and make results and data accessible to all through translational science, art, stories, and storytelling. 

I am most interested in conducting research in-situ, within my own communities where I have strong relationships and a deeper understanding of local challenges and needs. Therefore my research focuses on aquatic ecosystems in the upper Great Lakes. 

My value-driven research philosophy is inspired by scholars like Catherine Febria, Rachelle Gould, Ashlee Cunsolo, Jessica Hernandez, and Max Liboiron. 

-Molly J. Wick, PhD

"It's the heart that tells us what to do. The mind's job is to figure out how to do what the heart is telling us." 

- Ilarion Merculieff, in What Kind of Ancestor Do You Want to Be?