Ash Alberg reimagines doctoral research and how natural dyes are shaping new approaches to education.
Doctoral research in education doesn’t always have to involve textbooks, surveys, or document analysis. For Ash Alberg, UM Education PhD student, it begins with materials, land, and a long-standing creative practice of natural dyeing - the process of drawing colour from plants, insects, and other natural materials.
Alberg’s research, which started in September 2025, will explore how natural dyeing can support more responsive, hands-on approaches to teaching and learning. Their work brings together education, land-based learning, research-creation, and teacher well-being, reflecting the Faculty of Education’s support for non-traditional and interdisciplinary doctoral research pathways.
Before beginning their PhD, Alberg spent more than a decade working as a natural dyer, textile artist, and educator, teaching in schools and community settings across Manitoba. They brought hands-on textile and dyeing practices directly into classrooms, working with learners from early childhood through high school.
They have seen the “polycrisis” playing out in classrooms from the stress of environmental, political, and technological effects on children. In their experience, natural dyeing activities can help alleviate anxiety and overstimulation. “There are kids who physically can’t control their bodies in other moments of the class,” Alberg says. “And when it’s their turn to put something into the dye pot, there’s a singular focus. As soon as they’re physically engaged with it, it makes sense.”
Alberg’s research is grounded in land-based learning, Indigenous ways of knowing, and posthumanism theory—approaches that emphasize learning with the land, rather than simply about it.
“I’m not actually interested in getting a particular colour,” Alberg explains. “I’m interested in building a relationship with the plants I’m working with, with the materials, and letting them guide me.”
That intention, they say, is especially important when engaging with natural materials in educational contexts shaped by colonial histories.
“If we’re only engaging with natural dyes because the colours are pretty, we’re missing the point,” Alberg says. “We’re just repeating the same extractive mindset.”
In classrooms, natural dyeing becomes a way to connect learning across disciplines. A single lesson can involve science, math, history, art, and environmental studies.
“Students will learn the history of natural dyes and uses from their own cultures and world regions,” says Alberg. “They’ll need to learn about chemical reactions, the biology and horticulture of plants and insects, and how to calculate proportions to achieve results. Most importantly, they will learn how to appreciate what the land can offer and how to use it in a responsible way. This can be an all-encompassing way of learning.”
Ash has developed curriculum resources for all age groups. Examples of in-class exercises could include planting a school dye garden with early years students, or recreating historical dye recipes with high school students. Activities are linked to learning goals such as the anatomy of plants, understanding water pH and its impact on dye results, and knowing the history of natural dyes locally and how they were used.
While the benefits for students are visible, much of Alberg’s doctoral research focuses on educators themselves. Teacher burnout and classroom pressures have intensified in recent years, yet opportunities for teachers to experience curiosity-led, embodied learning are limited.
“There’s a lot of research on why experiential learning is important for kids,” Alberg says. “But there’s much less that focuses on what teachers need in order to sustain curiosity in an ethical way.” By engaging teachers in hands-on, land-based practices, Alberg hopes to support educator well-being alongside student learning.
Alberg credits the Faculty of Education at UM for supporting a doctoral path that challenges conventional expectations around research methods and outcomes.
“Having conversations with my advisor made me realize this was a faculty where people are willing to push outside the box and change the way we’ve been doing things,” they say.
"Their work is a powerful example of what happens when research is grounded in lived practice,” says Dr. Kathryn Morog, Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Education. “It brings together material, relational, and experiential ways of knowing in ways that challenge more conventional approaches to teaching and research.”
At UM, we encourage life-long curiosity while providing tools – inside and outside the classroom – to succeed in a rapidly changing world. Empowering learners is one of the strategic themes you’ll find in MomentUM: Leading change together, the University of Manitoba’s 2024–2029 strategic plan.
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