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Dr. Axelby is an anthropologist whose research interests span three interlinked areas: poverty and inequality; identity, history and citizenship; and agrarian change, natural resource management and the environment. His doctoral thesis (SOAS 2005) looked at the historical development of forest management in the Indian Himalayas and how nomadic herders responded to changes in the systems of property rights governing access to pasture.

From the grazing pastures of the Himalayas his research has  taken him to the subterranean basement levels of the British Library tracing colonial scientific records (Axelby and Nair 2010) and around the U.K. looking at British identity and history for the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council. More recently, together with Emma Crewe he has applied an anthropological perspective to the world of aid and international development (2013).

In 2014 and 2015 he was able to return to the site of his doctoral fieldwork to update the story of agrarian change and document the processes, institutions and forms of identity that shape access to education, government services and labour markets in Himachal Pradesh.