Simran is a senior fellow at the Oakland Institute in Oakland, CA, researching and reporting on the just and sustainable use of psychedelic plant medicines. She recently served as a summer professor of communications at John Cabot University in Rome, Italy, and has lectured on communications in the Master of Food Studies program at Chatham University and Johns Hopkins University. She has spoken on five continents at events including the Global Landscapes Forum, WOMAD, Terra Madre, the Clinton Global Initiative, the World Cocoa Conference, and the Festival of Dangerous Ideas.

Simran has lectured on storytelling, biodiversity, climate change, and sustainability at institutions including the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, Cornell University, the Commonwealth Club, the Sydney Opera House, the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, and Smith College (which awarded her the 2009 Smith College Medal). A full list of presentations can be found here. Praise here.

“In our current socio-political environment—cluttered with too much information, tainted by fake news, and compromised by faulty values—Simran Sethi cuts through the noise with her clear, smart, passionate, and engaging voice. Drawing on her personal experience, uncompromising journalism, sharp analysis, and gifted storytelling, Sethi brings a rare and welcome combination of interests and skills to the world of food.”
—Mitchell Davis, Chief Strategy Officer, the James Beard Foundation 

SPEAKING TOPICS INCLUDE:

Endangered Foods: The Loss of Biodiversity in Food and Agriculture
The Green Brain: Psychological Barriers to Social and Environmental Engagement
Women’s Role in Food, Agriculture, and Sustainability
Sensory Exploration in Eating: Taste, Touch, Smell, Sight, Sound

SELECT PRESENTATIONS

Keynote, Elizabeth Miller Lecture, Smith College (virtual, April 2021)

Speaker, UniSA Planet Talks, University of South Australia (Melbourne, Australia, March 2015)

Presenter, James Beard Foundation Food Conference (New York City, NY, October 2012)

Presenter, TEDx Manhattan (New York City, NY, February 2013)

Speaker, The Commonwealth Club (San Francisco, CA, October 2016)

Presenter, Queen’s College (Melbourne, Australia, October 2013)

Keynote, University of Southampton’s Interdisciplinary Research Week (Southampton,
England, March 2014)

John H. Chafee Memorial Lecture, National Council for Science and the Environment Conference (Washington, D.C., March 2016)

Moderator, Columbia University (New York, NY, February 2016)

Presenter, TEDx Plaza Cibeles (Madrid, Spain, June 2012)

Moderator, Clinton Global Initiative (San Diego, CA, April 2011)

Panelist, International Food Policy Research Institute (Washington, D.C., March 2018)