Living Labs Institute

Fellows

Harshawardhan Rathod

I’m an Agrarian and Learner. My engagement with the network began in 2021 as a learner, a resource person and as a maintainer. My work draws from four years of experience as a researcher, practitioner and educator across multiple disciplines.

harsha@livinglabs.institute

I’m an Agrarian and Learner. My engagement with the network began in 2021 as a learner, a resource person and as a maintainer. My work draws from four years of experience as a researcher, practitioner and educator across multiple disciplines carrying out studies based in various cities in Karnataka. Qualified as an agriculturist with an advanced training in areas related to soil science and agriculture, my work is at the intersections of - soil; water; farmer practices; climate change and adaptation; participatory research; and case studies.

On learning

I like going to the field, talking with people, having questions and having discussions in between with learners, collaborator and facilitator. This way of learning feels more natural to me. I am also interested in facilitating it in this way. Interacting with artifacts in the field helps me connect with the people, practice and place to learn from it. I see myself as a learner too—while I teach and facilitate, I am also learning in the process.

Situated Practice

I am still under the process of discovering about my practice, what does practice mean? Being from the region Bidar, my learning and ways of engaging with place, practice and people are situated in the region.

I engage in the following long-term work, mainly situated in Bidar

Courses

  • Past

    Whose Land and Whose Development?

    A collective inquiry to understand the nexus the social factors, politics and policies framework behind green energy projects affecting commons & wildlife habitat, shrinking grasslands and Patoralism.

    • Schools For Concentration: Sensitive Ecologies
    • Micro-Context: Solar Farms
    • Micro-Context: Unsustainable Urbanisation
    • +1 More Micro-Context
    • Place: Bidar
    • Trimester: 01
  • Past

    Rural Series: Pastoralism and land

    A travel based learning of Pastoral migration, and it’s unique knowledge and exchanges shared with the local land, migratory routes and places.

    • Schools For Concentration: Syncretic Cultures & Practices
    • Place: Gulbarga
    • Place: Bidar
    • Learning Module: Travelling Studio
    • Trimester: 01
  • Past

    Participatory Mapping with People, Bidar and the internet: Tools and Technologies

    Public maps and knowledge of places may often be centralised and made with intents not from the people: What tools and technologies can we use to subvert and reimagine maps and the representation of knowledge of places. Learners will work with community collaborators and technologies.

    • Schools For Concentration: Reimagining Technology
    • Micro-Context: Ecology In Urban Spaces
    • Micro-Context: Old Residences
    • Place: Bidar
    • Learning Module: Deliberate Practice
  • Past

    Sheheroshayiri

    A place is a cradle for memories, songs, material of these crafts. We look at already existing poetry and songs, and understand from these place-writers

    • Schools For Concentration: Art & Craft Practices
    • Micro-Context: Creative Writing
    • Micro-Context: Linguistic Works Dhakkhani Urdu Writings
    • Place: Bidar
    • Learning Module: Primer
    • Trimester: 01
  • Past

    Alternative Glossaries: Water systems in ONEs

    23 – 26 Mar 2026

    Learn to develop a glossary that will communicate the diversity of life, conditions, and uses it holds for both humans and other ecology.

    • Schools For Concentration: Sensitive Ecologies
    • Micro-Context: Water Systems
    • Micro-Context: Restoration And Conservation Of Karez
    • Trimester: 03
  • Past

    Mapping to understand socio-ecological phenomena in the place

    26 Oct – 1 Nov 2025

    This workshop will explore the socioecological system of this transect in with maps as a tool, guide and an artefact that documents observations, and communicates the entangled nature of these systems.

    • Schools For Concentration: Sensitive Ecologies
    • Micro-Context: Ecology In Urban Spaces
    • Micro-Context: Agrarian Practices
    • +11 More Micro-Context
    • Place: Bidar
    • Learning Module: Workshop
    • Trimester: 02