University of Cambridge

Alumnus, Social Anthropology

Wolfson College

Thesis Title: The Misinterpretation of Chiefly Power in Usangu, South-West Tanzania (1984)

About

I'm currently the Global Research Adviser in Oxfam GB's Policy Research Team. I joined Oxfam in 2009 as the Research Methods Adviser, and take the lead in developing the capacity of staff worldwide to undertake and commission high quality research to support Oxfam’s campaigns, humanitarian responses, and development programmes. I work with a growing network of regional and national research coordinators, and am responsible for research skills training, the provision of online resources (including research guidelines), fund-raising for research, and the development of links with the wider academic and NGO research communities. In 2011 I became a member of the expert panel for the social sciences (Main Panel C) in the Research Excellence Framework (REF 2014), the system for assessing the quality of research in UK higher education institutions. Before joining Oxfam, I worked for more than 25 years as a development consultant for a variety of agencies and organisations, including the Natural Resources Institute (1994-2003) in the Overseas Development Administration and then University of Greenwich. I've also been an Affiliated Lecturer in the Department of Social Anthropology, University of Cambridge (2004-10), and Research Fellow in the School of African and Asian Studies in the University of Sussex (1992-94). I trained as a social anthropologist, hold an MA and PhD from the University of Cambridge, have lived in both Tanzania and Kenya, and am now a Senior Member of Wolfson College as well as a member of Peterhouse.

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