IIHA Begins Year With New Helen Hamlyn Senior Fellow
New York City — The Institute of International Humanitarian Affairs is pleased to welcome Judy Benjamin, PhD as the Helen Hamlyn Senior Fellow. Dr. Benjamin comes to the Institute with more than 25 years of experience working in more than 30 countries in humanitarian response, gender, education, health and economic development.
As Helen Hamlyn Senior Fellow, Dr. Benjamin will spearhead the development, management and implementation of the Institute’s academic and training programs. She will also instruct and coordinate humanitarian curriculum for undergraduate and new Master’s programs and represent the IIHA at events, symposia, and meetings on crucial humanitarian issues globally.
“I am pleased to be part of the IIHA’s mission to bring together global experts in the humanitarian field and provide state of the art approaches that seek to professionalize humanitarian work for students and experienced field workers alike,” said Dr. Benjamin.
Her experience in the humanitarian field began working with displaced populations and refugees started in refugee camps in Sudan with the Eritrean exodus from Ethiopia where she first observed the results of gender disparity in feeding practices among refugees. She has served as a gender expert and humanitarian consultant to numerous international humanitarian organizations including the World Food Programme, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, USAID, UNDP, UNICEF, UNHCR and various non-governmental organizations.
Judy Benjamin also holds a doctoral degree in anthropology with a focus on international development from the University of Binghamton. She has also taught in the anthropology departments of Hunter College and Binghamton University (SUNY Binghamton) as well as a guest lecturer with the IIHA in the early formative years of the IIHA.
“We are confident that the Dr. Benjamin will continue the vision of the Institute’s founders that the multi-disciplinary field of humanitarian assistance merits greater study, requires continual assessment and response, and we all bear a responsibility to those who are vulnerable to make our response more effective and with dignity,” said Brendan Cahill, IIHA Executive Director.
The IIHA warmly welcomes Dr. Benjamin to the team as she continues the Institute’s mission of advancing the methods and framework by which humanitarian workers operate, training and educating future aid workers, and serving as a bridge between academia and humanitarian responses worldwide.
Contact Information:
Judy Benjamin, PhD
Helen Hamlyn Senior Fellow
