She is currently Professor, Gender and Development at the University of East Anglia, Norwich. She has worked extensively as a researcher, practitioner and advocate in the field of women’s rights, empowerment and education. Her research interests include exploring the gendered changes in land and agrarian relations, migration and livelihoods, especially in contexts of climatic variability and economic precarity, with implications for gender justice and food security. She has published extensively on these themes in international peer-reviewed journals and books.
She has contributed extensively to the strengthening of research collaborations within UEA and globally through several interventions, including supporting gendered research within the four CARIAA consortia, working on issues of adaptation to climate change, the UNESCO Chair in Literacy for social transformation, and more recently, as the Director of the Norwich Institute for Sustainable Development which seeks to enable equitable, food secure and sustainable futures through transdisciplinary research and innovation.
She has participated in several expert group meetings and committees of the United Nations and served on the Global Advisory Committee of the United Nations Girls’ Education Initiative (UNGEI) for over a decade. At present, she is a member of the Steering Committee of the High-Level Panel of Experts to the Commission on Global Food Security. She is also a member of the Strategic Advisory Group to the Global Challenges Research Fund, involved in shaping the direction of UK aid for research and innovation in the future.
