IDS alum, Dr Paul Howe will assume leadership of the Feinstein International Centre on 1 September 2021.
Howe graduated from IDS with a PhD by Research in Development Studies in 2004. His PhD thesis was on famine in southern Sudan. He was supervised by IDS Fellow Stephen Devereux.
Stephen Devereux said: “It is a great pleasure to welcome Paul back to academia after his successful career at the World Food Programme. Like many of us at IDS, Paul has always worked at the interface between theory and policy. While he was studying at IDS, Paul and I worked together on his innovative idea of ‘famine intensity and magnitude scales’, which later informed the development of the United Nations Integrated Phase Classification system that was used to officially declare the famine in Somalia in 2011. While working in senior operational roles for WFP across the world, Paul continued to reflect on famine theory, and he published an influential article on ‘Famine systems’ in World Development in 2018. Paul’s appointment as the next Director of Feinstein is especially appropriate, as it was originally established as the Feinstein International Famine Center. I was a Visiting Fellow at Feinstein in 2004, and I look forward to strengthening IDS’s links with Feinstein in the years ahead. Congratulations, Paul!’
Howe currently works with World Food Programme (WFP) where he has served for more than 17 years. Most recently, he was the WFP Country Director in Nigeria, and prior to that, acting Country Director and Deputy Country Director in Afghanistan as well as the Chief of WFP’s Emergencies and Transitions Unit. He has a deep knowledge of the humanitarian world. In his new role at Feinstein, Howe will take forward the organisation’s mission to promote the use of evidence and learning in operational and policy responses to protect and strengthen the lives, livelihoods, and dignity of people affected by or at risk of humanitarian crises.
We extend our congratulations to Paul and wish him every success at Feinstein.
