Dr. Diana Chalil

Palm Oil Supply Chain Lead Researcher & Lecturer, Universitas Sumatera Utara, Indonesia Founder & Coordinator, Consortium Studies on Smallholder Palm Oil (CSSPO)

Dr. Chalil begain studying small holder palm oil supply chains in 2003 while undertaking her PhD at the University of Sydney.

Since then, she has published a number of studies related to palm oil, including market power, certification, bilateral trade, inclusivity, risk, harvesting labour workload, replantation, landscape management and smallholder welfare.

In 2015, Dr. Chalil and her Universitas Sumatera Utara team formed the Consortium Studies of Smallholder Palm Oil (CSSPO) with colleagues from Indonesia (Universitas Jambi and Universitas Malikussaleh), Malaysia (Universiti Putra Malaysia) and Thailand (Prince of Songkla University) (csspo.or.id). Since 2016, CSSPO has partnered with CIRAD, the French Research Centre for International Development, signed a MoU in 2018 and conducted a number of joint research projects and established an annual conference.  As part of the effort to improve the oil palm smallholdings’ inclusivity and sustainability, CSSPO also managed training program for oil palm smallholders, engaged in smallholding replanting program in Indonesia and actively participated in the Indonesian Palm Oil Platform.