Aaron Franks

Aaron is the Research Lead of the Data Sovereignty Research Collaborative (DSRC). He began at FNIGC in 2018 as Senior Manager, OCAP® and Information Governance, then moving to Senior Advisor, External Relations and Strategic Initiatives.

Aaron’s career spans performance, arts-based research and critical theory (applied theatre and climate justice), and since 2015 advocacy, analysis and leadership in “research about research”, the limits of policy, and resisting extraction of First People’s knowledges and relations. Just before joining FNIGC he worked at the Centres for Environmental Health Equity and Indigenous Research Creation (both Queen’s University) and was a Mitacs policy fellow at SSHRC. He has published in many venues and is also a past editor of alt.theatre magazine.

He has a BFA (Alberta), MA in Social Justice and Equity Studies (Brock) and PhD in Human Geography (Glasgow). Originally from Treaty Six territory (Edmonton), he has British, Northern European, and Metis ancestors with ties to the Anglo-Metis communities of St. Andrews, MB, and Birch Hills, SK. A member of the Manitoba Metis Federation, he lives with his family on unceded Algonquin territory (Ottawa) where he is a member (and past board member) of Horizon Ottawa.