Nitha Palakshappa

Nitha Palakshappa, also known as Nitha Dolli, is a New Zealand marketing academic, and is a full professor at Massey University, specialising in sustainability and marketing in the fashion and food sectors.

Academic career

Palakshappa completed a PhD titled Collaborative relationships in New Zealand: an exploratory examination at the University of Canterbury in 2003. Palakshappa then joined the faculty of the University of Waikato, and then Massey University, rising to associate professor in 2022, and full professor in 2024.

Palakshappa's research and teaching centre on sustainability in the fashion and food sectors, covering topics such as ethical value chains, conscious consumption, and how brands can meet sustainability goals.

In New Zealand, Palakshappa has worked on food system sustainability, and was co-leader of the Farming to Flourish project in Taranaki. In this project Palakshappa worked with Sita Venkateswa (Massey), Dirk Roep (Wageningen University), and Carl Freeman (Farm Next Door and Freeman Farms) to learn how to educate people about farming, and how to encourage regenerative farming and diversify crops.

Selected works