Niala is interested in how our imaginations of nature affect how we treat it. Her doctoral research combined traditional anthropology methodology with public engagement with research to examine the relationship between urban gardeners in Oxford and the spaces which they materialise.

Niala also has an interest in museum collections and uses Community Action Research to support research carried out in galleries, libraries, archives and museums. This work includes research into museology and archaeology practice and its effects on the communities linked to the collections.

In the growing season of 2021, Niala recreated an allotment in the style of the year 1918. This project was in collaboration with Fig an Oxford based community, arts and horticulture project and was supported by The Humanities Cultural Programme at TORCH. The project was awarded the Social History Society’s Public History Prize in 2022.

Link to BIO