Carolyn Makinson

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Biographical Details

She has been the executive director of International Rescue Committee-UK since September 2010. Prior to this she was executive director of the Women's Refugee Commission. "A demographer by training, Carolyn was formerly executive director of MIT's Centre for International Studies.

"Before joining MIT, Carolyn was a programme officer for population and forced migration at the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and has continued to serve as a senior advisor to the foundation. In that role, she was instrumental in the creation of programmes for education in emergencies, in bringing reproductive health services to refugees and in generating a stronger focus on the needs of refugee and displaced adolescents, efforts in which the Women’s Refugee Commission has also been an important participant. With Carolyn's support, the Mellon Foundation funded the Women's Refugee Commission's groundbreaking 1994 survey of reproductive health services for refugees, "Refugee Women and Reproductive Health Care: Reassessing Priorities".

"Carolyn has also worked with Macro International as a country monitor for Burundi and Kenya, and as a research affiliate with the American University in Cairo. She studied refugee programmes in Rwanda, Guinea and Mozambique as an affiliate of the International Rescue Committee and Save the Children in 1995-96.

"Carolyn has won numerous academic fellowships and prizes and has published widely. In May 2004, prior to joining the Women's Refugee Commission, she was honoured with the Women's Refugee Commission’s Voices of Courage Award. She has a PhD in sociology from Princeton University. "