For Researchers and Universities

Collaborate with Hodopathy on Ethical Documentation, Biodiversity and Scientific Research

Hodopathy invites universities, research institutions, scientists, scholars and qualified laboratories to participate in the responsible study and preservation of Jharkhand’s Adivasi knowledge and natural heritage.

Our aim is to create a credible research bridge among traditional practitioners, community knowledge holders, botanists, conservationists, health and nutrition researchers, social scientists and responsible institutions.

We welcome rigorous inquiry, including research that produces positive, negative, uncertain or unexpected findings. Collaboration with Hodopathy does not require researchers to confirm a predetermined conclusion.

Why Research Hodopathy?

Hodopathy is associated with a living body of knowledge concerning:

Native and forest plants
Traditional foods and nutrition
Seasonal practices
Community well-being
Plant identification and preparation
Forest ecology
Sustainable harvesting
Adivasi cultural traditions
Community approaches to nature and health
Intergenerational knowledge transmission

Much of this knowledge remains oral and geographically dispersed. It may be held by individual practitioners, families, lineages or communities.

Research can help preserve historical and cultural knowledge, identify conservation priorities, authenticate plant species and examine questions of safety, quality, nutrition and biological activity.

However, research must not remove knowledge from community control, expose sacred information or use biological resources without appropriate consent and regulatory compliance.

Our Research Vision

Hodopathy seeks research partnerships that:

Recognise traditional practitioners as knowledge contributors
Include communities in research planning
Protect sacred and confidential information
Follow appropriate scientific methods
Obtain institutional ethics review
Authenticate plant materials
Preserve ecological context
Report evidence limitations clearly
Share relevant results with participating communities
Support fair and equitable benefit-sharing
Contribute to biodiversity conservation
Avoid exaggerated medical claims

The World Health Organization’s Global Traditional Medicine Centre similarly focuses on advancing research, knowledge exchange, biodiversity conservation and partnerships while recognising Indigenous knowledge systems. WHO Global Traditional Medicine Centre.

Who Can Apply?

Hodopathy welcomes proposals from:

Central and state universities
Agricultural universities
Medical and health-science institutions
Pharmacy colleges
Forestry universities and institutes
Social-science and anthropology departments
Botany and biotechnology departments
Food and nutrition institutions
Public-health schools
Law and intellectual-property centres
Environmental and biodiversity institutions
Government research organisations
Accredited private research institutions
Recognised laboratories
Independent researchers affiliated with a responsible institution
Postdoctoral scholars and supervised postgraduate researchers

Student projects must have a named institutional supervisor and appropriate departmental approval.

Relevant Academic Disciplines

Potential collaboration may involve:

Ethnobotany
Botany and taxonomy
Ecology
Forestry
Conservation biology
Pharmacognosy
Phytochemistry
Toxicology
Microbiology
Analytical chemistry
Nutrition and food science
Agriculture and agroforestry
Sociology
Anthropology
Public health
History and oral traditions
Linguistics
Intellectual property and biodiversity law
Data science and digital archiving
Research ethics
Rural development

Interdisciplinary proposals are especially welcome when the roles of different disciplines are clearly defined.

Priority Research Areas

1. Ethical Documentation of Traditional Knowledge

Research may examine:

Oral histories of practitioners
Intergenerational knowledge transmission
Local plant classifications
Community conservation practices
Seasonal ecological knowledge
Changing availability of forest plants
Cultural meanings associated with forests
Challenges facing traditional practitioners
Knowledge-preservation models

Documentation should not assume that all knowledge should become public. Communities and knowledge holders must be able to classify information as shareable, restricted, confidential or sacred.

2. Botanical Authentication

Research institutions may help:

Match local and botanical names
Prepare authenticated plant descriptions
Develop herbarium references where permitted
Study flowering and fruiting periods
Document habitat characteristics
Prevent substitution and misidentification
Train community researchers
Develop responsible field-identification resources

Voucher specimens or samples should be collected only with appropriate permission and ecological safeguards.

3. Medicinal-Plant Conservation

Potential studies include:

Wild-population assessment
Conservation-status evaluation
Habitat mapping
Seed biology
Propagation methods
Effects of harvesting
Community nurseries
In-situ and ex-situ conservation
Restoration of degraded habitats
Climate-related changes
Sustainable collection limits

The exact coordinates of rare or threatened plants should not be made publicly accessible.

4. Sustainable Harvesting

Researchers may collaborate with practitioners and forest communities to study:

Plant regeneration
Harvesting seasons
Effects of collecting leaves, bark, roots or seeds
Rotation systems
No-harvest zones
Community harvesting rules
Collector training
Traceability
Ecological monitoring

Commercial demand should not determine harvesting levels without a species- and site-specific assessment.

5. Traditional Foods and Nutrition

Research may explore:

Nutritional composition
Seasonal food diversity
Traditional processing methods
Food safety
Contamination
Storage
Dietary context
Community food knowledge
Potential for responsible nutritional products

Research should distinguish food traditions from therapeutic claims.

6. Identity Purity and Quality

Laboratory studies may examine:

Botanical identity
Macroscopic and microscopic characteristics
Chemical fingerprints
Adulteration
Heavy metals
Pesticide residues
Microbial contamination
Mycotoxins
Stability
Packaging and storage
Batch consistency

Quality testing is not equivalent to proof of clinical effectiveness.

7. Safety and Toxicology

Where justified, research may investigate:

Traditional preparation context
Potential toxicity
Dose-related effects
Allergic reactions
Herb-drug interactions
Vulnerable populations
Contraindications
Contamination risks
Safe handling
Adverse-event reporting

Research involving non-codified traditional medicines must follow all applicable ethical and regulatory requirements.

The Indian Council of Medical Research’s ethical requirements for integrative-medicine research state that informed consent must be tailored for participant understanding and that research involving non-codified traditional medicines must undergo the prescribed regulatory processes. ICMR Ethical Requirements for Integrative-Medicine Research.

8. Social Cultural and Historical Research

Projects may study:

Practitioner identity
Community trust
Apprenticeship
Cultural change
Language and terminology
Forest relationships
Knowledge loss
Community institutions
Gender and knowledge transmission
Ethical representation
Rural access to health services

Researchers should avoid depicting communities as primitive, unchanging or scientifically uniform.

9. Law Policy and Knowledge Governance

Research opportunities include:

Traditional-knowledge protection
Access and Benefit-Sharing
Community rights
Biodiversity Management Committees
People’s Biodiversity Registers
Forest rights
Intellectual property
Data governance
Consent models
Community-controlled archives
Ethical commercialisation
Artificial intelligence and traditional knowledge

10. Digital Preservation

Institutions may help develop:

Secure archives
Local-language transcription
Controlled-access databases
Metadata standards
Consent-linked access controls
Audio and video preservation
Community copies of records
Digital-security protocols
Long-term preservation systems

Restricted knowledge should not be placed in open databases merely because open access is academically preferred.

What Hodopathy May Contribute

Subject to community approval, resources and project agreements, Hodopathy may assist with:

Initial research orientation
Identification of potential research themes
Introductions to willing practitioners
Community-engagement planning
Local field coordination
Review of cultural terminology
Background documentation
Identification of conservation concerns
Collaboration with botanists and laboratories
Practitioner and researcher dialogues
Dissemination of appropriate findings
Public education

Hodopathy does not own all knowledge associated with traditional practitioners and cannot grant unrestricted access on their behalf.

Every practitioner and community retains the right to accept, restrict or refuse participation.

Requirements Before Fieldwork

Before field activities begin, researchers should establish:

Approved research protocol
Institutional affiliation
Named principal investigator
Funding source
Conflict-of-interest declarations
Institutional ethics approval where required
Community-engagement plan
Informed-consent documents
Translation and interpretation arrangements
Data-management plan
Biological-sample plan
Environmental-risk assessment
Publication and authorship approach
Intellectual-property position
Benefit-sharing proposal
Required biodiversity, forest and other permissions
Grievance and adverse-event procedures

An invitation from one individual should not be treated as permission to conduct research across an entire community.

Community Participation

Communities should be involved as partners wherever their knowledge, resources or territories are central to the research.

Participation may include:

Identifying research priorities
Designing consent procedures
Selecting appropriate terminology
Identifying restricted knowledge
Supporting field interpretation
Monitoring ecological impact
Reviewing sensitive findings
Deciding publication restrictions
Co-presenting research
Receiving and applying research results

International guidance increasingly emphasises trust, co-creation and Indigenous-led engagement in research involving biodiversity and traditional knowledge. WHO—Indigenous-Led Engagement.

Informed Consent

Consent should explain:

Research purpose
Procedures
Recording methods
Expected duration
Risks and possible benefits
Confidentiality
Biological-sample use
Data storage
Third-party access
Publication
Commercial potential
Intellectual property
Withdrawal
Contact and complaint procedures

Consent should be available in an appropriate language and explained orally where necessary.

Separate or renewed permission may be required for:

Photography
Audio and video
Sample collection
Genetic or biochemical analysis
International sample transfer
Open-data deposition
Commercial development
Patenting
AI training
Future research beyond the original protocol

Research-Ethics Review

Research involving people, identifiable information, health practices or biological samples should undergo review by an appropriately constituted institutional ethics committee.

Ethics review should consider:

Community vulnerability
Cultural risk
Group harm
Privacy
Consent
Benefit-risk balance
Compensation
Participant expenses
Confidentiality
Future use
Community benefit
Research-related injury where applicable
Responsible communication

An ethics approval letter does not replace community permission or required biodiversity approvals.

Biological Diversity Compliance

Research involving biological resources or associated traditional knowledge may require approval, registration, consultation, reporting or benefit-sharing under India’s Biological Diversity Act and applicable rules and regulations.

Requirements vary according to:

Nationality and legal status of the researcher
Type of institution
Research purpose
Resource origin
Transfer of material or results
Commercial potential
Intellectual-property plans
Location of the resource
Applicable exemptions

The National Biodiversity Authority’s current rules address access, research, third-party transfer, intellectual property, reporting, conservation and benefit-sharing. National Biodiversity Authority—Rules.

Researchers should obtain project-specific regulatory advice rather than relying on general assumptions about academic exemptions.

Plant Collection and Environmental Responsibility

A research permit should not be interpreted as permission to collect unlimited material.

Protocols should specify:

Botanical identity
Collection site
Plant part
Quantity
Conservation status
Harvesting method
Number of specimens
Environmental impact
Reference-sample deposition
Transport and storage
Disposal or return
Restoration measures

Rare or threatened plants should not be collected when non-destructive observation, cultivated material or an existing reference specimen can answer the research question.

Data Governance

A research-data plan should classify information as:

Public
Shareable with conditions
Restricted research data
Confidential
Sacred or secret
Personally identifiable
Ecologically sensitive

The plan should address:

Data ownership and custodianship
Storage location
Access controls
Encryption
Retention period
Community copies
Third-party transfer
International hosting
Data repositories
Reuse
De-identification
Withdrawal
Destruction
Breach response
AI and automated analysis

Data should not automatically be deposited in an open repository when consent or cultural restrictions require controlled access.

Biological Samples and Material Transfer

Sample transfer should be governed by an appropriate Material Transfer Agreement or equivalent arrangement.

The agreement should address:

Sample identity and quantity
Permitted research
Prohibited use
Storage
Genetic or biochemical analysis
Third-party transfer
Commercial development
Intellectual property
Benefit-sharing
Reporting
Return or destruction
Regulatory approvals

Samples should not be transferred to another department, collaborator or country merely because the original institution has physical custody.

Evidence and Claims

Researchers should clearly distinguish among:

Traditional use
Community testimony
Case reports
Laboratory findings
Animal studies
Observational research
Controlled clinical research
Systematic reviews
Regulatory authorisation

A laboratory finding of biological activity does not establish that a preparation is safe or effective in humans.

Absence of evidence is not the same as evidence of absence, but uncertainty must not be presented as proof.

Publication Standards

Research should be reported accurately, including:

Methods
Participant selection
Consent and ethics approval
Community involvement
Botanical authentication
Limitations
Funding
Conflicts of interest
Adverse or negative findings
Data restrictions
Benefit-sharing arrangements where relevant

Researchers should avoid publishing:

Sacred or secret knowledge
Unauthorised preparation details
Identifiable patient information
Exact locations of threatened plants
Images lacking appropriate consent
Unsupported claims attributed to practitioners

Community review of culturally sensitive material should not be used to suppress legitimate scientific findings. Its purpose is to prevent cultural harm, confidentiality breaches and factual misrepresentation.

Authorship and Acknowledgement

Authorship should reflect substantial intellectual contributions according to appropriate publication standards.

Traditional practitioners and community researchers may qualify for authorship when they contribute materially to:

Research design
Knowledge interpretation
Data collection
Analysis
Manuscript development
Critical intellectual revision

Other contributions should receive meaningful acknowledgement with permission.

Practitioners should not be listed as authors without understanding and accepting the publication.

A small payment or general acknowledgement does not resolve questions of ownership, attribution or benefit-sharing.

Intellectual Property and Commercial Potential

Intellectual-property terms should be discussed before research begins.

The agreement should address:

Pre-existing traditional knowledge
Background intellectual property
New research results
Inventorship
Ownership
Licensing
Disclosure of origin
Community rights
Practitioner recognition
Continuing customary use
Patent costs
Revenue-sharing
Failed or abandoned applications
Commercial spin-offs

If an academic study develops commercial potential, research should pause for renewed ethical, community and regulatory review before commercial development proceeds.

Benefit-Sharing

Benefits may be monetary or non-monetary and should reflect the contribution of communities, practitioners and biological-resource custodians.

Possible benefits include:

Research-participation payments
Training
Scholarships
Employment
Equipment
Community archives
Conservation programmes
Nurseries
Local laboratories
Technology transfer
Research-result access
Royalties
Licensing income
Community development funds

Benefit-sharing should not be postponed until a product becomes profitable if meaningful benefits can be provided during the research itself.

Student Research

Student projects should be:

Realistic within the academic timeline
Supervised by a qualified faculty member
Approved by the institution
Ethically reviewed where required
Based on appropriate community permission
Limited to necessary data
Supported by a clear closure and return-of-results plan

Communities should not repeatedly undergo similar interviews for multiple short-term dissertations without coordination or meaningful benefit.

Funding and Conflicts of Interest

Proposals must disclose:

All funding sources
Commercial sponsors
Product-development interests
Patent plans
Consulting relationships
Institutional interests
Expected financial benefits

Funding agreements should preserve the right to publish accurate results, including negative or inconclusive findings.

Research Practices Hodopathy Will Not Support

Hodopathy will not knowingly support:

Research without appropriate consent
Secret collection of knowledge or samples
Unauthorised clinical experimentation
Predetermined favourable results
Destructive collection of rare plants
Misleading medical claims
Unauthorised third-party transfers
Concealed commercial objectives
Exclusion of knowledge holders from recognition
Open publication of restricted knowledge
AI training using protected community data without permission
Intellectual-property applications that ignore traditional contributions
Research that offers no credible community or conservation value

How to Submit a Research Proposal

Please provide:

Project title
Principal investigator
Institution and department
Research team and qualifications
Academic discipline
Research question
Background and rationale
Proposed methods
Study location
Communities or practitioners involved
Biological resources required
Sampling plan
Consent process
Ethics-review status
Biodiversity and regulatory plan
Data-management plan
Material-transfer plan
Publication and authorship plan
Intellectual-property position
Benefit-sharing proposal
Conservation impact
Timeline
Budget
Funding sources
Conflicts of interest
Expected outputs
Community return-of-results plan

Concept notes may be submitted for initial discussion, but detailed protocols will be required before any field access is considered.

Review Process

Proposals may undergo:

Mission and relevance review
Scientific feasibility review
Community-rights and ethics review
Biodiversity and environmental review
Regulatory assessment
Data and intellectual-property review
Budget and implementation review
Agreement and approval

Submission does not guarantee access, endorsement, funding or acceptance.

Contact Hodopathy

Email: care@hodopathy.com
Website: www.hodopathy.com

Suggested email subject:

Research Collaboration Proposal – [Institution Name]

Research with Respect

Hodopathy believes that traditional knowledge and modern scientific methods can contribute to one another when the relationship is based on respect, evidence and community participation.

We invite researchers and universities to help build a body of work that:

Preserves living knowledge
Protects community rights
Conserves medicinal plants
Improves botanical accuracy
Evaluates safety responsibly
Reports uncertainty honestly
Shares benefits fairly
Returns knowledge to the people who helped create it

Hodopathy—Connecting Adivasi Knowledge, Responsible Research and Biodiversity Conservation.

This webpage provides general collaboration information. It does not grant access to communities, traditional knowledge, biological resources or research participants. Every project remains subject to appropriate institutional, community, ethical and regulatory review.