Ruth Meinzen-Dick

Bio

"Ruth Meinzen-Dick is a Senior Research Fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute ([1] ), based in Washington DC. She is Coordinator of the CGIAR System-wide Program on Collective Action and Property Rights ([2] ), a research program and network involving 15 international centers and partners at over 400 other organizations, and President of the International Association for the Study of the Commons ([3] ). She is a Development Sociologist who received her MSc and PhD degrees from Cornell University. Much of her work has been interdisciplinary research on water policy, local organizations, property rights, gender analysis, and the impact of agricultural research on poverty. She has conducted field work in Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, Kenya, and India, where she was born and raised. She has published over 80 journal articles or book chapters, and 11 books or monographs, including Agricultural research, livelihoods, and poverty: Studies of economic and social impacts in six countries, Negogiating Water Rights, and Innovation in natural resource management: The role of property rights and collective action in developing countries." (via email July 2010)