Christopher Ward

Christopher Ward is a postgraduate researcher at the Institute for Development Studies (IDS). A political scientist, he focuses on informality and informal settlements, forced displacement and the political economy of aid, with a particular focus on urban contexts within crisis-affected states. His dissertation at IDS examines the effects of humanitarian aid on formal and informal governance in Haiti’s volatile urban slums.

Over the past 17 years, he has worked across relief, recovery and reconstruction efforts in multiple post-disaster and post-crisis contexts, including Sudan, Haiti, Burkina Faso, Iraq, Nepal, Micronesia, Mali, Niger and Senegal, and has significant institutional experience with USAID, the European Union, the World Bank and the United Nations.

Chris holds a master’s degree in international affairs from The George Washington University (USA), and an undergraduate degree in political science and Spanish from the University of Iowa (USA). He was also a US Fulbright Program Research Fellow in Turkey, affiliated with Bogaziçi University’s Department of Political Science.