Meryl Shriver-Rice, Ph.D., R.P.A. is an environmental anthropologist, paleoethnobotanist, and archaeologist with expertise in ethnobiology, public anthropology, environmental justice, and community-based participatory research. As a non-Indigenous researcher, Dr. Shriver-Rice adheres to the guiding principles laid out by Indigenous researchers and Indigenous scientists for non-Indigenous research partners, in which research should be “meaningful and useful to Indigenous communities” (Kovach 2008, Tsosie et al. 2022) and follow the six R’s: Respect, Relationship, Representation, Relevance, Responsibility, and Reciprocity.

Her work with IAIS aims to promote Indigenous futures, support Indigenous resurgence and cultural revitalization. Dr. Shriver-Rice’s current book Decolonial Approaches to Data Ethics, Community-based Work, and Re-Storying the Dead (with anthropologist Sarah Hiepler, under contract Wiley Blackwell) examines decolonial approaches to museum and park interpretation and archival collections, and digital interventions within community-based projects and outreach.

Dr. Shriver-Rice is also an assistant professor in the Department of Human Ecology at Rutgers University and has served as a grant reviewer for Cultural and Community Resilience panel (CCR) for the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), and on the faculty working group that founded the Native American and Global Indigenous Studies (NAGIS) program at UMiami. She is a member of the North American Heritage at Risk project (NAHAR) and Allying for Diversity and Inclusion in Ethnobiology (ADIE) which has brought together multiple academic societies (Society for Ethnobiology, Society for Ethnobotany, International Society for Ethnobiology) to discuss decolonizing methodologies and ethical data practices. She has served on the board of the Florida Public Archaeology Network (FPAN) and on the Miami-Dade Vulnerability Assessment Working Group that has been charged with ranking archaeological sites by risk of climate impacts. She also serves as director of the Coastal Heritage at Risk Taskforce (CHART).

IAIS welcomes outside researchers who are interested in working with IAIS’s ethnographic or archaeological collections. We are particularly interested in partnering on multi- institutional/organizational projects that support intergenerational cultural exchange, institutional decolonization, and Indigenous futures. Please reach out to Dr. Shriver-Rice for more information.