Elisa Palomino

Working at the intersection of anthropology, education and sustainable fashion, Elisa Palomino has conducted research, written publications and developed educational programs on Indigenous knowledge, participatory design, ethics, and heritage. She has explored themes of subsistence materials from Arctic cultures with the aim of protecting Indigenous Peoples' rights as tradition holders, alongside the rights of animals and the natural environment. She leads global collaborations with Natives, scholars and institutions, linking education to sustainable development across ecological, social, cultural, and economic dimensions. As a KHI-ANAMED fellow, Elisa has researched fish demigods in the aquatic landscapes of ancient Anatolian civilisations.

Elisa has led EU funded projects such as Horizon 2020 FishSkin, she has been a Fulbright scholar, a Kluge fellow at the Library of Congress, a fellow at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science and a joint KHI-ANAMED fellow. Currently, she is a Research Associate at the Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center, specialising in Indigenous cultural heritage, Traditional Ecological Knowledge, Visual Anthropology, and Museum Studies.

Elisa holds 25-year experience designing for luxury fashion brands including John Galliano and Christian Dior. As Fashion Print director at Central Saint Martins, London, and international lecturer for over a decade, she focuses on sustainability and nature-based materials. She earned a Ph.D. in Sustainable Fashion and Anthropology from London College of Fashion.