Intersections, Ideas, and Iterations

Prior to coming to Pittsburgh in August 2014, Dr. Walker spent 12 years as the Director of the Feinstein International Center at Tufts University, one of the world’s premier enters for the study of humanitarian crises. In 2007 Dr. Walker was made Rosenberg Professor of Nutrition and Human Security. Dr Walker joined Tufts from a 25 year career in disaster and humanitarian crisis management around the world.

Dr. Walker played a major role in managing the relief response to the 1984-85 famine in the Sudan and is subsequent relief and development programs in Ethiopia.

Joining the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in 1990 Dr Walker was involved in needs assessment and evaluation missions in the former Soviet states, Iran, Pakistan, Former Yugoslavia, The Horn of Africa, Namibia, Malawi, Somalia and the Great Lakes region, as well as spending two years heading up disaster preparedness programs cross southeast Asia.

Walker was instrumental in championing the need to professionalize the disaster response business, developing the global Code of Conduct for disaster relief workers and steering the development of the international Sphere standards, a major NGO and UN collaborative effort to develop universal competence standards in humanitarian assistance. In 1993 Walker founded the annual World Disasters Report which has now become a standard reference text in the humanitarian business.

His recent book, with Feinstein Center Faculty member Dr Dan Maxwell, Shaping the Humanitarian World, provides a robust history of humanitarianism linked to an inquiry into its future as a global venture.

At the Feinstein Intentional Center Walker was actively involved in research examining the future global drivers of humanitarian crises, the effectiveness of international humanitarian systems and the creation of international professional accreditation systems.

Dr. Walker has been a Senior Research Fellow with the UK government’s aid program and sits on the board of a number of NGOs and academic journals. Dr. Walker is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.