I am in Africa. After listening to stories of my mother catching a colourful fish in the River Kafue and of my grandfather driving from Nairobi to Lusaka in the 70s, it is finally my chance to see this inspiring, beautiful, and complex continent.I am in Nairobi at the 9th International Conference on Community- BasedContinue reading "Farming and the license to dream (notes from the CBA9 conference)"
Pushing disciplinary boundaries: No, really.
As nerdy as it may sound, I enjoy learning. I look forward to hearing new ideas and meeting people with varied research interests. This year as a postdoc on the ASSAR consortium, I have found myself flooded with opportunities to just this - attend trainings, go to conferences, meet some really good researchers, and inContinue reading "Pushing disciplinary boundaries: No, really."
Interview | CARIAA Young Researchers
Filling up a monitoring form for a medicinal plant nursery in Keylong, Himachal Pradesh (2008). Collaborative Adaptation Research Initiative in Africa and Asia (CARIAA) is an IDRC and DFID funded project working on building resilience of vulnerable populations in vulnerability hotspots. As part of their series on young researchers working on climate change issues, I was interviewedContinue reading "Interview | CARIAA Young Researchers"
Ecological restoration as an adaptation to climate variability: reflections from a visit to Navadarshanam
It\'s been three months into my new job as a postdoctoral researcher working on a multi-country, multidisciplinary project called Adaptation at Scale in Semi-arid Regions (ASSAR). The journey has been an exciting and challenging experience so far. In a recent blog, I documented my research team\'s visit to Navadarshanam and discussed how perhaps scaling up nicheContinue reading "Ecological restoration as an adaptation to climate variability: reflections from a visit to Navadarshanam"
Integrated landscape management in Asia: who participates,who doesn\’t?
Till recently, I was working on a Global Review of Integrated Landscape Initiatives with Bioversity International and the Landscapes for People, Food and Nature Initiative. As part of the Asia review, we surveyed 166 landscape initiatives in South and Southeast Asia to get a better idea of what works in integrated landscape management and whatContinue reading "Integrated landscape management in Asia: who participates,who doesn\’t?"
ASSAR Annual Meeting: Notes on collaborative, interdisciplinary research
On my first day as a postdoctoral researcher on the ASSAR (Adaptation at Scale in Semi-arid Regions) project, I was hurled into a week-long ASSAR Annual Meeting held at IIHS, Bangalore. A wonderful mix between workshop, project meeting, networking event and academic brainstorming session, the week was the best possible induction I could get intoContinue reading "ASSAR Annual Meeting: Notes on collaborative, interdisciplinary research"
Book Review | Ancient Futures: Lessons from Ladakh for a Globalizing World
I just finished reading Ancient Futures: Lessons from Ladakh for a Globalizing World by Helena Norberg-Hodge. It is strange that it is only now that I finally read this masterpiece; six years since I first went to Ladakh and began my journey of academic inquiry and personal growth. Ladakh was the place I discovered my love for ethnographic studyContinue reading "Book Review | Ancient Futures: Lessons from Ladakh for a Globalizing World"
Link Pack #8: Sustainable intensification in agriculture
Blog: Ian Scoones writes about the latest buzzword in agriculture \'sustainable intensification\' (SI) and whether it can help address global food security. Paper: In a recent paper, Loos et al. (2014) critique the current definition of SI and highlight the need to look at issues of equity (who gains what?) and individual empowerment (to secure food).Continue reading "Link Pack #8: Sustainable intensification in agriculture"
Researcher’s social capital: Liaising with local actors for effective ethnographic research
Having a good relationship with a local NGO helped me participate in severalevents not strictly related to my research. Seen above, women dancing on Women\'s Day to kill time before the formal event began. They sang local songs,spun in giddy circles and all in all entertained everyone around! The doing of research is something thatContinue reading "Researcher’s social capital: Liaising with local actors for effective ethnographic research"
Link Pack #7: ICTs for climate change adaptation (among other things)
Paper: Linking ICTs and Climate Change Adaptation: A Conceptual Framework for e-Resilience and e-Adaptation by Ospina and Heeks (2010) is a fascinating read. The authors put forth a framework to explore how ICTs can enhance individual adaptive capacities and contribute to the overall adaptation process. The paper also introduced me to \'ICT4CCA\' which stands forContinue reading "Link Pack #7: ICTs for climate change adaptation (among other things)"
Chandni Singh 