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. Palakshappa was involved in a Swedish research project funded through the Swedish Institute for Strategic Environmental Research, a cross-disciplinary study aimed at understanding how environmental communication could transform Sweden's sustainability. The marketing stream of the research worked with brands such as IKEA, Global Compact Network, Nudie Jeans, KappAhl, and H&M on sustainability reporting, transparency and social responsibility.

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.