Professor Hemant Ojha is an Adjunct Professor at the Centre for Deliberative Democracy and Global Governance, University of Canberra. He is an environmental social scientist whose work examines the politics and practice of environmental governance, with a particular focus on power, deliberation, social learning, climate resilience and locally led development.

His scholarship explores how diverse actors, from communities and civil society organisations to governments and international institutions, negotiate knowledge, authority and resources in contested settings of environmental governance and sustainability transitions. Drawing on deliberative governance, critical social science and action research, his work shows how community empowerment, critical deliberative practices, and institutional innovation can help address entrenched power asymmetries and support more democratic forms of decision-making and democratic accountability. 

A central feature of Professor Ojha’s work is his commitment to critical action research as a pathway to practical and systemic change. His recent research focuses on amplifying marginalised local voices in national and global debates on climate policy, adaptation and finance. Through collaborative research partnerships, he examines how community-based knowledge, Indigenous knowledge systems and scientific expertise can be brought together to inform more inclusive and accountable policy processes.

Adjunct Professor Ojha has more than two decades of research, teaching and advisory experience across South Asia and the Pacific. He has led multi-country research consortia, advised international development organisations,and contributed to policy and practice in natural resource governance, climate adaptation and rural development. He is a co-founder of ForestAction Nepal (2000) and the Southasia Institute of Advanced Studies (2011). He works with the Australian National University, leading research projects on water, climate and livelihoods in Nepal and Pakistan. He also serves as Principal Advisor to the Institute for Study and Development Worldwide, providing strategic advice on how knowledge co-creation can lead to inclusive outcomes.

Research Interests

• Power, deliberation and governance: Examining how power relations shape public deliberation, institutional change and natural resource governance.

• Inclusive climate policy and finance: Analysing how global climate policy and finance can better respond to local priorities, vulnerabilities and capacities.

• Critical action research and epistemic justice: Using collaborative and action-oriented research to strengthen local voice, knowledge equity and policy learning.

• Knowledge co-production in environmental crises: Developing collaborative approaches that connect technical expertise with community-led adaptation and resilience strategies.