Indigenous Knowledge and Data Sovereignty
About Dr. Sonajharia Minz
of the Oraon Tribal Peoples, India
UNESCO Chair in Transforming
Indigenous Knowledge Research
Governance and Rematriation.
Dr. Sonajharia Minz has recently been jointly appointed to the prestigious position of UNESCO Chair in Transforming Indigenous Knowledge, Research Governance, and Rematriation. A distinguished Professor of Computer Science at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi, she served as the Vice-Chancellor of Sido Kanhu Murmu University from May 2020 to June 2023.
Dr. Minz hails from the Oraon tribal community of Jharkhand, with Kurukh as her mother tongue. Her academic expertise lies in Artificial Intelligence, Spatial Data Analytics, and Geospatial Informatics.
Beyond her technical accomplishments, Dr. Minz is a passionate scholar, writer, and speaker, widely respected for her advocacy of gender justice, social equity, and the preservation of tribal languages and cultures. Her recent appointment marks an important step in amplifying indigenous voices within global academic and policy frameworks.