Community Research Stewards
Community Research Stewards are mentors, guides, and advisors to direct researchers within the Office of the 3 Sisters ecosystem. They are distinct from Community Research Keepers — who receive and help circulate research in the broader community — in that Stewards operate closer to the research itself, often bringing Indigenous research background or related experience to bear on guiding and shaping the work.
Status: Open to be filled. Approximate capacity: 15. Languages: EN / ES.
What this role holds
Community Research Stewards serve researchers directly: mentoring, guiding, and advising the research process. The flow of knowledge works as follows:
- Researchers share their work with the Office.
- The Office publicizes that work to the Circle of Community Research Keepers.
- Stewards are not currently imagined to interact directly with Keepers, though cross-collaboration may become possible in the future.
This means Stewards sit upstream of the Keepers circle — closer to the research methodology and the researcher's practice — while Keepers help that work travel through community.
Who is typically called to this role
Community Research Stewards usually bring a background in Indigenous research methodologies or related experience. The invitation letter for the broader Earth Stewardship Program describes Stewards as people who bring "experience and a desire to serve as guides, mentors, and advisors to the work" and who foster the research "with a deeper level of commitment and responsibility."
This role is not a replication of the Community Research Keeper commitment. It asks for a different orientation: toward the researcher, the methodology, and the integrity of the work itself.
Prerequisite
Completion of the Earth Stewardship Program is required before entering the Community Research Stewards role.
Relationship to other roles
| Role | Relationship |
|---|---|
| Community Research Keepers | Distinct from Stewards. Keepers receive and circulate publicized research; Stewards mentor researchers directly. |
| Circle Keepers | Community Research Stewards map, per the Kichwa schema, to the Wasi Runa active-contributor layer alongside Keepers — but Stewards carry a deeper advisory function. |
| Earth Stewardship Program | The broader program within which both Stewards and Keepers participate. Stewards enter through this program. |
No direct Steward ↔ Keeper interaction is formalized at this time, though the sources note it remains open as a future possibility.
Kichwa schema note
Per the Kichwa ecological role schema used across the Office, Community Research Stewards (alongside Community Research Keepers) are positioned in the Wasi Runa layer — the community of beneficiary-contributors who receive Wasi support, find their Rikchay in listed needs, offer solutions in Ayni, and participate in Rimanakuy and Minga. The Stewards' advisory and mentorship function distinguishes their active-contributor expression within that layer.
First case study: Jeremy Kirshbaum
Jeremy Kirshbaum is named as the first case study for the Community Research Stewards path. His participation is being piloted alongside Sjeanne BC's piloting of the Community Research Keeper path — together clarifying how the two roles relate in practice.
Registry entries associated with this role
The following registry entries are linked to the Community Research Stewards role in the Office's operational records:
earth-stewardship-program(copy to be written by Alana; v0.1 landed 2026-05-12)ai-impact-data-center-accountabilityyachay-taxonomy-convening(new, staged for migration)
This page describes the role as understood from the 2026-05-12 combined roles document and Earth Stewardship Program orientation materials. Final role language and public copy remain subject to review by Kichwalana and Office stewards.
Type: role · Also known as: Community Research Stewards