Andrew Norton

Director

Andrew Norton is director of IIED. He is an applied anthropologist working on a range of issues related to social and environmental justice. He oversees the implementation of IIED’s five-year strategy focused on addressing five interlocking crises – climate, biodiversity loss, inequality, urban risk and unsustainable markets. His recent work focuses on social policy and climate resilience, labour guarantees and ecosystem stewardship, and automation and inequality. Major areas of focus over recent years include framing the social dimensions of climate change and participatory research on poverty and inequality.

Full biography

His career spans both research and operational roles in academic and development contexts. He has worked extensively on the social dimensions of climate change, poverty, gender and social analysis, social policy and human rights in development practice.

Andrew has experience of working in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

Expertise

Climate change; natural resource governance; social policy; social inclusion; human rights; poverty; gender; social analysis; and urban social change.

Before IIED

Director of research for the Overseas Development Institute
Lead social scientist in the World Bank
Head of social development for the UK Department for International Development (DFID)
Doctoral fieldwork in Mali

Current work

Oversees the full range of IIED's policy and action research activities; particularly focused on the politics and social dimensions of climate change and climate action.