Helen Young

Biography 

Helen Young has been a Research Director with the Feinstein International Center since 1998 and a Professor with Tufts University for 25 years. Active in humanitarian response and development since 1985, Helen has professional experience with Oxfam GB, UNHCR, the World Bank, FAO, WFP, and UNICEF, mainly in Africa. Since joining Tufts, Young has designed the core master’s course, ‘Public Nutrition in Emergencies’, and developed inter-disciplinary research programs on nutrition, food security, livelihoods, environment and conflict. Her work has been supported by grants from UK FCDO (formerly DFID), Ford Foundation, WFP, UNEP, FAO, Mellon, and others. Over the past decade she has led three multi-year  nutrition research projects in partnership with the BRACED (Sudan and Chad), Taadoud (Sudan) and USAID Nawiri (Kenya).  

She continues her research on livelihoods and conflict in Sudan, focusing on pastoralism, migration and the war economy and migration in western Sudan. Young served as Co-Editor of the journal Disasters for 25 years, and is the author of more than 85 books, book chapters, practical guides, reports, and peer-reviewed publications.

Education

• Ph.D., 1985, Bournemouth University
• B.Sc., 1982, Food Science and Nutrition, Oxford Polytechnic University

Specializations

Humanitarian Assistance

Research Activities

Since 2004, Helen Young’s research has focused on  livelihoods and conflict in Sudan. Within that context, she leads an inter-disciplinary research program on livelihoods, environment and conflict, and public nutrition that has had grants from donors including, DFID, the Ford Foundation, the World Food Program (WFP), the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and Mellon. As a professor at the Friedman School of Nutrition, Helen established and taught a core master’s course, “Public Nutrition in Emergencies.” In 2002, she led the development of the Sphere Minimum Standards on food security. She is the author of more than 60 books, book chapters, practical guides, reports, and peer reviewed publications. She is co-editor of the journal Disasters.

Active in humanitarian response and development since 1985, Helen has professional experience with Oxfam GB, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the World Bank, the FAO, the WFP, and the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF), mainly in Africa. She has combined field-based deployments and consultancies with applied research, including work as a visiting research fellow at the Overseas Development Institute where she analyzed nutrition, food security, and famine responses during the eighties.

Helen received her bachelor’s degree in food science and nutrition from Oxford Polytechnic (now Oxford Brookes University), and her Ph.D. from Bournemouth University.