Naomi Hossain is a political sociologist with nearly 20 years of development research and advisory experience. Her work focuses on the politics of poverty and public services, and includes research on elite perceptions of poverty, governance and accountability of education and social protection, and women’s empowerment. Naomi has conducted primary research in Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Indonesia, and cross-country research in Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa, and South and Southeast Asia.

Since 2009, Naomi has led work tracking the social impacts of economic crises, now in a mixed method research project partnership in 10 countries with Oxfam GB called ‘Life in a Time of Food Price Volatility’ (2012-15). Naomi is also the lead researcher on a DFID-ESRC funded project called ‘Food riots and food rights: the moral and political economy of accountability for hunger’ (2012-14). She is also part of an action research project trying to raise the profile of women’s unpaid care work on development policy agendas.

Naomi has done advisory work for DFID, the Indonesian Government, the World Bank and the UN, among others. She is the author of a book on elite perceptions of poverty in Bangladesh http://www.amazon.com/Elite-Perceptions-Poverty-Bangladesh-Hossain/dp/984051735X as well as journal articles and reports. With colleagues at the World Bank she co-edited Living Through Crises in 2012 http://issuu.com/world.bank.publications/docs/9780821389409. Squeezed, the first year output from Life in a Time of Food Price Volatility, is published in May 2013.