Boel McAteer

Researcher, Human Settlements

Boel McAteer's picture
Telephone: +44 (0)20 3463 7399
boelmcateer
Languages: English, Swedish, Turkish, Spanish (intermediate)

Boel’s research interests are focused on gender, refugee livelihoods and wellbeing, and particularly the operationalisation of concepts such as self-reliance and decent work in settings of long-term urban displacement.

Boel is a researcher within the migration, mobility and displacement team and works on a range of projects focusing on urban displacement, including IIED’s work on measuring refugee wellbeing, and inclusive urban governance in Kampala. Boel has also developed new work on ‘displacement penalties’ among self-employed refugees in Nairobi. 

In 2022-24 she worked on the GCRF-ESRC project 'Protracted displacement in an urban world' – a large-scale comparative study examining wellbeing and livelihoods in cities and camps in Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Jordan and Kenya. Her background includes international development, monitoring, evaluation and learning.

Expertise

Urban displacement; refugee self-reliance; gender and livelihoods support; social exclusion; international development.

Before IIED

  • Monitoring, evaluation and learning consultant for the UK government’s Conflict Stability and Security Fund (CSSF)
  • Research consultant, Edinburgh Innovations
  • Post-doctoral research fellow, University of Edinburgh
  • Programme manager, Department for International Development (DFID)

Education

  • PhD, international development, University of Edinburgh
  • MSc, human rights and international politics, University of Glasgow
  • BA (hons), journalism, University of Stirling

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