Karen Jacobsen

Karen Jacobsen is the Henry J. Leir Professor in Global Migration at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, and directs the Refugees in Towns Project at the Leir Institute for Migration and Human Security. Professor Jacobsen’s current research explores urban displacement and global migration, with a focus on the livelihoods and financial resilience of migrants and refugees, and on climate- and environment-related mobility. In 2013-2014, she was on leave from Tufts, leading the Joint IDP Profiling Service (JIPS) at United Nations in Geneva. From 2000-2005, she directed the Alchemy Project, which explored the use of microfinance to support people in refugee camps and other displacement settings.

Prof. Jacobsen’s Ph.D. in Political Science is from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her areas of expertise include refugee and migration issues, humanitarian assistance in developing countries, urban impact, and climate change and migration. She is currently at work on a book that examines the impact of displacement on cities. Her previous books include A View from Below: Conducting Research in Conflict Zones (with Mazurana and Gale, Cambridge UP 2013 ); and The Economic Life of Refugees (Lynne Rienner, 2005), which is widely used in courses on forced migration. She consults and works closely with UNHCR and other UN agencies and international NGOs. She is a citizen of both South Africa and the U.S., and splits her time between Brookline, MA and western Maine (Andover, ME).

Research/Areas of Interest:

My research focuses on migration and displacement in developing countries, mainly in Africa and the Middle East. I focus on the experience, rights, vulnerability and resilience of forced migrants both in camps and in urban settings, and the policy and program responses developed by governments and international agencies towards refugees and internally displaced people. Two major areas of my work are the household economic and financial security of displaced people, and urban migration.

Education

• Ph. D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, United States, 1992
• SM, Political Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, United States, 1988
• MA, Sociology, Northeastern University, Boston, United States, 1985
• Bachelor of Art, Political Science and English, University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, 1979

Tufts University Appointments

• Henry J. Leir Professorship in Global Migration
  Tufts University, Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, 1 Aug 2016 - present
• Associate Dean for Research
  Tufts University, Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, 1 Jul 2022 - present
• Associate Professor
  Tufts University, Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, 20 May 2017 - present
• Associate Professor
  Tufts University, Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, Feinstein International Center, 20 May 2017 - present
• Associate Professor
  Tufts University, Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, 1 Aug 2016 - 19 May 2017
• Associate Professor
  Tufts University, Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, Feinstein International Center, 1 Aug 2016 - 19 May 2017
• Research Associate Professor
  Tufts University, Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, 1 Jul 2013 - 31 Jul 2016
• Visiting Associate Professor
  Tufts University, Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, 1 Sep 2002 - 31 May 2006
• Visiting Assistant Professor
  Tufts University, Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, 1 Sep 2000 - 31 Aug 2002
• Adjunct Assistant Professor
  Tufts University, Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, 1 Sep 1997 - 31 May 2000

Academic Positions

• Assistant Professor
  Regis College, Political Science Dept, United States 1995 - 2000
• Acting Director, Feinstein International Center
  Tufts University, Medford, United States 2014 - 2016

Non-academic Positions

• Director, Professional Services
  Joint IDP Profiling Service (JIPS), Geneva, Switzerland Sep 2013 - Nov 2014
• Project Manager, Political Economy of State Mental Health Agencies, Institute of Mental Health.
  Economics Dept., Boston University 1993 - 1995