In celebration of Indigenous Peoples and Museum Month, the Community Engagement and Indigenous Peoples Studies Center, in collaboration with the University Research Center, successfully held a Capacity-Building Workshop on Community-Based Participatory Research on October 9, 2025, at the Pedro Calungsod Hall.

With the theme “Listening, Learning, Leading: Research for and by Indigenous Peoples,” the workshop featured Ms. Helen Biangalen-Magata from the Tebtebba Foundation (Indigenous Peoples’ International Centre for Policy Research and Education). The event aimed to promote ethical, inclusive, and participatory research practices that empower Indigenous Peoples as active knowledge holders and co-creators of research outputs.

The workshop was participated in by a diverse group of stakeholders, including students from Saint Mary’s University and Nueva Vizcaya State University, community officers from the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP), and members of the Ayangan Indigenous Cultural Community. This diverse participation fostered meaningful dialogue and collaboration across sectors, bridging academic, institutional, and grassroots perspectives on research with Indigenous Peoples.

Nueva Vizcaya, with at least 18 ethnolinguistic groups, remains a vibrant center of Indigenous cultural diversity. However, challenges brought about by modernization, migration, and commercial exploitation threaten the preservation and accurate representation of Indigenous cultural heritage. The lack of community-led documentation and limited training in ethical research practices further complicate these concerns.