Helen Young
Professor
- Professor, The Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy
- Research Director, Nutrition and Livelihoods, Feinstein International Center
Helen has been a Research Director with the Feinstein International Center since 1998, and a Professor with Tufts University for more than 10 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. 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. Since joining Tufts she has established and taught a core masters course ‘Public Nutrition in Emergencies’ and developed an inter-disciplinary research program on livelihoods, environment and conflict, and also public nutrition, with grants from DFID, Ford Foundation, WFP, UNEP, FAO, Mellon and others. In 2002 she led the development of the Sphere Minimum Standards on food security, and since 2004 her main focus has been livelihoods and conflict in Sudan. Helen is Co-Editor of the journal Disasters and she is author of more than 60 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
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.
