Chris Flower

PhD Title: “On its last legs? Pastoralism in the drought-affected drylands of Afar, Ethiopia”

Chris’s PhD evaluates how differential shifts in livelihood affect pastoral and agropastoral communities in the remote drylands of Afar, Ethiopia. Living in a context of growing vulnerability to climate change, food insecurity and competition over land and natural resources the project analyses the social justice impacts of pastoral resilience, policy formulation and development practice.

Chris re-joined the Department of Geography as a doctoral student in October 2014. Prior to this – and since obtaining an MA and First Class degree from the University of Sheffield – he worked in both the private and public international development spheres. First, for the International Land Coalition (ILC), based in the UN’s International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) in Rome, before becoming a proposal writer and project manager for DAI.