APPLIED RESEARCH

I am an experienced qualitative and mixed-methods researcher with an established record in the study of postwar reconstruction. I am a skilled project manager with ten years of research experience with academic, museum, humanitarian, and development organizations in international contexts, including working as a Visiting Researcher with Norwegian Church Aid in Laos.

As a skilled field researcher, I use a toolkit that includes ethnography (virtual and IRL), site visits, interviews (semi/structured and group), life histories and institutional histories, surveys, archival research, map-making, and a variety of arts-based methods. I have advanced training and experience in human rights research requiring increased subject and researcher protections. I consider ethics to be an inherent part of any research project, requiring that I adapt my data collection, analysis, and representation practices to the unique needs of the people I am studying.

I am a certified communications skills trainer and peer educator specializing in science communication and science advocacy. I have completed training courses in business practices for applied social scientists, offered by EPIC (Ethnographic Praxis in Industry) and the American Anthropological Association.

Testimonial: "EPIC commends Leah Zani for building powerful skills to access deep insight about people and culture that have direct impact in business and organizational contexts."