Engaging as a Native Hawaiian Place of Learning

AAHRPP Standards have always combined rigor with flexibility. While all accredited organizations are required to meet the same requirements, each is free to choose its own path to achieving and maintaining accreditation. At the University of Hawaiʻi, that path embraces the institution’s strategic goal of becoming a “Native Hawaiian Place of Learning (NHPOL),” an educational organization that reflects and is responsive to Native Hawaiian communities. These values also align with AAHRPP Standards and best research practices.

“Researchers come to us from all over the world,” says Kristin Bacon, MPH, CIP, Manager of the Human Studies Program at the University of Hawaiʻi. “In the past, the research paradigm did not always include intentional prior consultation and respect for cultural perspectives and knowledge. Now, researchers have access to support from our office, including frameworks for intentional, thoughtful approaches that reinforce trust. These are essential to effective, respectful research practices.”

This emphasis on trust and respect is central to preserving and promoting the values and practices of Hawaiʻi’s Indigenous peoples.

The flagship campus, University of Hawaiʻi Manoa, is home to the Native Hawaiian Place of Learning Advancement Office, which was established specifically to become an NHPOL and an Indigenous-serving institution grounded in aloha ‘āina (love of the land). A system-wide initiative, University of Hawaiʻi Papa O Ke Ao (HPOKA), seeks to embrace and embed that commitment throughout the 10 University of Hawaii campuses. Both the NHPOL office and HPOKA initiative are led by Kaiwipunikauikawēkiu Punihei Lipe, PhD.

The Office of Research Compliance exemplifies the integration of both NHPOL and AAHRPP standards. The university’s approach to research ethics, quality, and compliance is rooted in AAHRPP Standards, government regulations, and in “kuleana,” the Hawaiian value and practice of deep responsibility.

Kristin fulfills that responsibility, in part, as a fellow of the University of Hawaiʻi at Manoa’s Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation™ Campus Center and as a Pilina (relationship) Circle Facilitator. She also draws on the cultural expertise honed in both those roles—and her family’s three-generation presence in Mānoa valley—to nurture connections between the Office of Research Compliance, researchers, and the community.

One of Kristin’s early objectives was to address misconceptions that “compliance is all about checking boxes, a view that often creates an ‘us and them’ approach,” she says. “This office has the kuleana to help forge a path that strengthens complex pivotal research as well as collegial and respectful relationships. This way, research can flourish and benefit all even more.”

The University of Hawaiʻi has three IRBs: biomedical, social and behavioral sciences, and—for research conducted in partnership with The Queen’s Medical Center, Hawaiʻi Pacific Health, and/or Castle Medical Center—cooperative. Kristin has worked to ensure that all three IRBs include Native Hawaiian, Filipino, Japanese, and Korean cultural consultants, as well as consultants who represent other communities and people who are unhoused or incarcerated.

An NHPOL, however, is expected to take a broader view. Hawaiian cultural values should be evident throughout the research process, not just during the research review. As a result, University of Hawai‘i researchers are also asked if they have a Native Hawaiian researcher or consultant on their team for Native Hawaiian-focused research, and about steps being taken to demonstrate cultural humility. At times, depending upon the research context, “we might include those requirements in our stipulations,” Kristin says.

“One of the hardest, most important messages to deliver is that community-engaged research requires a lifetime commitment,” she adds. “While publishing research outcomes is foundational in the academy and potentially beneficial to society, the goal is also to develop programs that support more people in our community, involve them as research participants, and encourage them to go on to become researchers themselves.”