Mitti Matters was a collaborative project involving a selected group of experts and citizens from Milton Keynes with varying interests in nature and the environment, working with Open University staff.
‘Mitti’ (मिट्टी) is the Panjabi word for soil. The word ‘mitti’ evokes ancestral land memories for many first and second-generation British South Asians, through family histories and nostalgic stories that the elders carried with them from the Motherland. It can hold a deep spiritual and inter-generational dimension of Panjabi folk traditions and celebrations of festivals like Lohri and Vaisakhi.
Typically, university researchers apply for public funding for research without input from external partners and/or citizens. The quality of these applications is assessed by other researchers, who are referred to as peers.
For this project, we have taken a different approach, informed by engaged research. We involved a wider group of people than academics alone: people with particular forms of expertise, such as green-space managers and local nature-conservation volunteers, to produce a research proposal that is informed by scientific and public needs.
We also talked with community groups, community representatives and A’level Geography students to understand their priorities for research into floodplain meadows. This has resulted in a research proposal for which we are now seeking funding, primarily focussing on soil carbon and fungal relationships.
We also talked to community groups about how to frame a new Open Learn course on floodplain meadows, which has now been launched and is free to take part in.
https://www.open.edu/openlearn/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=163633§ion=5
Blogs about Mitti Matters
https://university.open.ac.uk/stem/environment-earth-ecosystem-sciences/node/306
https://inklusivenature.com/2025/04/22/mitti-matters-in-the-meadow/
