George Nicholas and Suraya Afiff (Anthropology, University of Indonesia) were the featured panelists in a recent discussion on how and why local knowledge must inform university-based research practices, held at the University of Washingon, Seattle, in early April. 
This is part of a project on "Engaging Area Studies in the Large Research University: Climate Science Across National Boundaries," organized by Peter Lape and Celia Lowe (UW), with funding by the Mellon Foundation.
The University of Washington is a center for innovation in international and area studies, science studies, and community-based research practice. At the UW, as at many other institutions, however, scientific research is not informed by an equivalent critical understanding of local cultural values, attitudes and beliefs about scientific sample collecting, effective ways to share research results after fieldwork, and potential for collaborative and community oriented research, particularly when US-based researchers work in international field sites. Knowledge on how area studies can inform scientific research in international settings typically remains compartmentalized within area studies and museum studies. These were the issues discussed in the round table by Nicholas and Afiff.
