The Highland Institute

Research Projects

Locally rooted, globally engaged scholarship addressing the urgencies of our time

Our Research Approach

The Highland Institute's work is grounded in deep, long-term ethnographic engagement with highland communities. Our research is organized around five core themes, each reflecting our interdisciplinary orientation and commitment to addressing both scholarly and real-world challenges.

These themes emerge from over a decade of collaboration with communities across Highland Asia and beyond, animated by questions of identity, ecology, healing, mobility, and power.

Featured Research Projects

Ekologos

Ekologos

Global Environmental Humanities Network

A collaborative project funded by the Norwegian Agency bridging indigenous knowledge systems with contemporary climate science across Arctic, Amazonian, and Himalayan regions.

MyCClimate

MyCClimate

Community Responses to Climate Change

Ethnographic research along the India-Myanmar border studying local perceptions and adaptation strategies to climate change in Highland Asia.

PluriMed

PluriMed

Medical Pluralism in Highland Asia

Advancing critical inquiry into therapeutic ecologies and the intersections of formal and informal health knowledge systems across highland communities.

Earthkeepers

Earthkeepers

Environmental Education & Climate Resilience

Community-driven environmental education initiative empowering children and elders through storytelling and traditional knowledge exchange.

Core Themes of Research

Societies and Cultures of Highland Asia

Oral traditions, kinship, religious change, customary law, and ancestral knowledge systems

Projects & Activities:

  • Nagaland Oral Literature Project
  • Intersubjective Ecologies Lab
  • Summer and Winter Schools
Environmental Knowledge and Climate Resilience

Indigenous ecological knowledge, traditional land management, and climate adaptation strategies

Projects & Activities:

  • Earthkeepers
  • MyCClimate
  • Citizen Science Biodiversity Studies
Religion, Healing, and Medical Pluralism

Shamanism, prophetic healing, medical pluralism, and rural healthcare ecologies

Projects & Activities:

  • PluriMed Research Group
  • Collaboration with Doctors For You
  • Ekologos Fellowship Programme
Political Economy, Borders, and Mobility

Indigenous sovereignty, cross-border trade, migration, and spatial politics of belonging

Projects & Activities:

  • India–Myanmar Borderlands Research
  • Refugee & Diaspora Studies
  • Conflict & Memory Archives
Visual, Material, and Museum Anthropology

Collaborative exhibitions, repatriation ethics, ethnographic filmmaking, and digital archives

Projects & Activities:

  • Museum Collaborations (Pitt Rivers, Cambridge MAA)
  • Visual Anthropology Labs
  • Oral History Projects

Additional Research Initiatives

Tasting Tomorrow

Applied research investigating how cultural heritage and cuisine can adapt to climate change through experimental cooking with future-available ingredients.

Citizen Science & Biodiversity

Community-led biodiversity mapping, participatory conservation initiatives, and integration of Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK).

Ursula Graham Bower Lectures

Annual lecture series featuring international scholars exploring historical, political, and cultural dimensions of Highland Asia.

Highlander Press Journals

Open access publications including PluriMed journal and academic monographs disseminating research from the region.

Collaborate With Us

Interested in partnering on research, accessing our publications, or joining our fellowship programmes?

    Made with Emergent