Dr. Désirée Gmür

Biography

Désirée Gmür studied Social Anthropology, Geography, and Economic Social History at the University of Zurich, obtaining her Master of Arts. Her master's thesis focused on Tanzanian conservation policies, particularly a community-based conservation project in villages bordering Ruaha National Park in the Iringa region, examining its implications for local livelihoods. Gmür's research contributes to debates on participatory conservation and resource management by demonstrating that certain institutions, while purportedly participatory, often exclude significant groups from participating, especially women and pastoralist communities. She underscores the challenges posed by local power relations and the failures of national conservation organizations to adequately engage local communities in a meaningful way. From 2014 to 2019, Gmür conducted PhD research in Tanzania on large-scale forestry investments, which was part of a project funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation. Her work highlighted the strategies of companies involved in land deals and the local responses to these negotiations. In 2020, she became a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Social Anthropology at the University of Bern, focusing on food systems and sustainability in the Senegal River valley. She is currently expanding her research to include Central Asian studies, specifically looking at effective institutional practices among pastoralists in Kazakhstan, particularly in the context of climate change and disasters.

Research Interests

Experience