The Role of Indigenous Knowledge in Environmental and Heritage Conservation

In April 2021, the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), announced the launch of a programme - Hidden histories of environmental science: Acknowledging legacies of race, social injustice and exclusion to inform the future. The programme takes an interdisciplinary approach to understand and acknowledge how the future of environmental science can be informed by the past, particularly the relationship between the sector and its underpinning colonial history, and how different cultural perceptions of environmental science can be incorporated today.

As part of the Hidden Histories programme, an interdisciplinary team from the University of Leicester comprising Dr Yunci Cai, Lecturer in Museum Studies, School of Museum Studies (Principal Investigator); Dr Sara Thornton, Research Associate, Prof Susan Page, Professor of Physical Geography and Prof Caroline Upton, Professor in Human Geography, School of Geography, Geology and the Environment (Co-applicants) received a partnership seed fund from the Hidden Histories programme to host an online workshop on the programme theme. The project team was later joined by Dr Liana Chua, Tunku Abdul Rahman University Lecturer in Malay World Studies, University of Cambridge, as well as Dr Roslynn Ang, Independent Researcher and Rut Dini Prasti Harianson, Independent Researcher.

The project team hosted a three-day online workshop entitled ‘The Role of Indigenous Knowledge in Nature and Cultural Conservation in Borneo’ from 27 to 29 July 2021, featuring 11 Indigenous speakers representing NGOs, think tanks and academics based in Borneo. The workshop was intended to shape a research funding application to the Hidden Histories programme.