Forum for Research on Grasslands and Pastoralism (FRGP)

The Forum for Research on Grasslands and Pastoralism (FRGP) is a consortium representing ATREE, NCBS, SNU and IRD. This consortium is interested in furthering research in grassland and pastoral studies from an interdisciplinary perspective. Its aim is to enable the formation of a coherent body of work to inform better public policies, strengthen pastoralist systems and improve grassland management. This collaborative platform will host research fellowships, field stations and a repository of material on pastoralism and grasslands. In the long run, this platform aims to shape the quality and content of academic engagement with pastoralism and grassland in South Asia.

Herders in the Banni grasslands © Nipun Prabhakar

We currently offer a well-funded fellowship programme targeting Masters and PhD students and established faculty. This fellowship programme will be managed through a collaborative platform with multiple partnering academic institutions. The expectation is that such support will lead to between 20 and 40 masters and PhD theses over the next few years, resulting in two things (i) a body of new work on Indian pastoralism; and (ii) a community of scholars who will, hopefully, go on to foster and nurture additional work on pastoralism.

We hope to establish or support research stations in a variety of pastoral regions. These serve two purposes: (i) we can undertake region-wise long term monitoring of several variables and undertake or facilitate research that can build on ongoing work, towards developing a coherent, multi-disciplinary body of work; and (ii) by providing accommodation, food, transport and field assistants, our field stations attempt to remove a key bottleneck to doing research in these isolated areas.

We are building a repository of materials on pastoralism for a wide audience, including individuals working in civil society organisations, academics, policymakers or any other individual with an interest in pastoralism. Materials on pastoralism are scattered and difficult to access, and our repository is an effort to collate all such relevant content in one place.