Public anthropology
Description
At Edinburgh we are committed to a public anthropology that contributes to debates beyond our fields of scholarship. Staff members in Social Anthropology offer expert advice to governments, international development organisations and social justice campaign groups - engaging directly with diverse communities of policy makers, practitioners and activists - and help to lead the University of Edinburgh's response to global challenges through their involvement in the Global Development Academy and the Global Academy of Justice.
The outcomes of our engagements include a Best Practice Guide for those writing expert reports in connection with immigration and asylum appeals in the UK and an Online Bibliography of research on business and development.
Our academic staff act as expert witnesses and academic consultants for a variety of organisations. For example, Dr Laura Jeffery has recently provided expert statements for the Bancoult judicial review on the extent to which the Chagossians meet the definition of an ethnic group (2018). Dr Jeffery has also acted as an academic consultant on the Mauritius National Heritage Fund taskforce to nominate Chagossian sega music to the UNESCO List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding (2017–18).