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Bringing together
Indigenous ways of knowing and
Western scientific knowledge

The acquisition of scientific knowledge is essential to human survival – it is a practical engagement with the real world – and the scientific pursuit of knowledge must, therefore, be as old as the consciousness of our human species. 

The team at the Institute for Integrative Science & Health (IISH) defines "Integrative Science" as bringing together Indigenous and Western scientific knowledges and ways of knowing.  And, we view science in a broadened and culturally inclusive way which is:  science = dynamic, pattern-based knowledge shared through stories about our interactions with and within nature. 

The Guiding Principle for our co-learning journey of different knowledges and cultures working together is Two-Eyed Seeing.  Lots of other people across Canada and internationally have heard about Two-Eyed Seeing and are using it!

Read about who we are, how we got started, and what themes and other guiding principles we use in our work.   Explore our numerous presentations in which understandings about Integrative Science and Two-Eyed Seeing are outlined and visualized.  Find out about our published articles, other printed materials, videos, outreach projects and multimedia and also other things we have done

Read about the success of the Integrative Science academic program, the Mi'kmaq science students who were awarded NSERC-USRAs (undergraduate summer research awards), the academic program's national award of recognition from the Canadian Council on Learning, and its status, structure, and more. NOTE: AS AN ACADEMIC PROGRAM AT CBU, INTEGRATIVE SCIENCE CEASED TO FUNCTION IN THE LATE 2000s.

NOTE:  The Institute for Integrative Science & Health closed in June 2013 although the website will continue to be maintained. New postings made during 2013 to 2017 can be found in "news" or in "archives".

IISH Director Cheryl Bartlett, Cape Breton University's Professor of Biology and Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Integrative Science