My research focuses on food security related initiatives in the Global South. I work on aquaculture and specifically fish farming development, food innovation using neglected foods and indigenous knowledge, food safety and quality management as well as value chain management and development of gender-based value chains. The development of tertiary education (vocational and higher education) is a cross-cutting theme in all of my global engagements in research and education.

Projects

Global Foodnet: Ancient Crops for Food Security

Central Asia Finnish Education Institutes for Green Biotechnology and Food Security

Aquaculture and fisheries development in the Kyrgyz Republic

Green biotechnology for food security

Development of women fish farmer cooperatives in Nepal

Capacity Building in Fisheries and Aquaculture Education in the Kyrgyz Republic

Education collaboration opportunities between Finland and South Africa

Bridging existing and new approaches for science, technology and innovation cooperation between Finland and Africa

Food safety and quality management

Teachers of the future : Finnish-Namibian collaborative teacher education

Food product development from indigenous foods

Role of Finnish higher education in global food and nutrition security

Niti's research interests lie in the intersection between design methods, knowledge systems particularly local, traditional and indigenous knowledges, and participatory social design-driven transformation. She is currently exploring the relationship between post-colonial indigenous research paradigms (Chilisa 2019) and integrated product development strategies for holistic knowledge production that implements cognitive justice (Visvanathan 1997; 2021) for research at the Cultural Interface (Nakata 1997, 2007; Durie 2005). Over 30 years of professional creative practice in design and innovation. This includes 15 years of leading interdisciplinary teams for fieldwork using design anthropology methodologies (rapid ethnography, indepth interviews, day in the life, observations and shadowing in markets, farms, villages, borderlands and more). Fieldwork personally completed in South Africa, The Philippines, India, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, and with local assistance in Benin and Malawi. Networks span the African continent. Public recognition of original knowledge production includes Invitation to mainstage of TED Global 2017 in Arusha Tanzania TEDTalk video https://www.ted.com/talks/niti_bhan_the_hidden_opportunities_of_the_informal_economy

Doctoral researcher in sustainability transformations with a focus on indigenous knowledges, agroecology practices, native seeds protection and intellectual property law for protection of ancestral knowledges. Economics and political science background.

I research bushmeat hunting, wildlife trade and alternative livelihoods. In my PhD, I will also work with Sustainable Development Goals and Indigenous People and Local Communities.

Doctoral student studying remotely from Alaska, USA working on sustainable educational training for teachers with a focus on Indigenous pedagogy.

In my doctoral project, I investigate connections between belonging, development of group identities, urbanization, and political representation and participation in decision-making in the restrictive settings of contemporary Russia. More specifically, in my study, I analyze the peculiarities of these phenomena among non-Russian ethnic minorities and Indigenous peoples. My research is based on the case study of Komi people inhabiting Syktyvkar, the capital of Russia's north-western Komi Republic.

Anthropologist with a specialization in long-term social change in postcolonial Africa. Recent work focuses on the interaction between law and politics in state formation. Supplementary interests in epistemic decolonization, and in the legal frameworks around extractivist economies, especially in connection with indigenous communities.

Projects

Exploring food choices and linking nutrition to landscape - understanding drivers of food and nutrition insecurity of a Sub-Saharan African Indigenous group

Indigenous governance, extractivism, Ecuador

Projects

Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) and well-being of indigenous youth - A participatory research with the Khwe San in Namibia