Provenance
Keep a knowledge record connected to its source, attribution, and documented context.
Traditional knowledge · Responsible research
Knowledge moves.
Its context
should travel with it.
VeriTrad is developing tools to help researchers document the origins, consent, and conditions attached to traditional knowledge.
In development. Not a public validation service.
The question behind VeriTrad
A published source is not
a permission slip.
Finding knowledge in a paper does not establish permission to reuse it. Attribution, community authority, consent, and agreed terms are distinct questions. Our work starts by keeping those questions visible.
Three connected priorities
More than a record of origin.
Consent
Distinguish permission to access knowledge from permission to use it for a particular purpose.
Agreed terms
Keep restrictions and benefit-sharing terms visible without implying that software creates agreement.
Community authority
Documentation supports consent.
It does not grant it.
Knowledge holders and their authorized representatives determine the terms of participation. Software is not a substitute for those relationships.
How we approach consent →Built around a real boundary
Readable evidence.
Visible uncertainty.
VeriTrad’s development focuses on documentation and governance. The aim is to make origins, permissions, missing information, and review needs easier to follow.
It is not a tool for deciding whether a treatment works, certifying legal compliance, or authorizing use of a community’s knowledge.
Development and scope →Keep the context
A research initiative.
A clear responsibility.
Developed by Cloak & Quill Research, with community authority and evidence quality at the center.
From Cloak & Quill Research
VeriTrad news
Conference Presentations
Saud Ahmad to present traditional medicinal knowledge research at TMEWC 2026
Published · Cloak & Quill Research
Saud Ahmad will deliver a virtual oral presentation on traditional medicinal knowledge regulation in Singapore and the United Kingdom at the Traditional Medicine and Ethnomedicine World Conference 2026.
Saud Ahmad, Traditional Knowledge Regulation SME, Cloak & Quill Research
Read the announcement →