I’m a researcher and development practitioner interested in all things climate change, disasters and development. This site hosts some of my research, materials and mind-ramblings.

A bit about me: I’ve spent most of my career thinking about ways to help communities prepare, respond and adapt to different shocks. Much of this has revolved around advising and supporting NGOs, multi-lateral agencies and national governments in mainstreaming resilience into plans and policies. My background is in environmental science and international development, with a PhD focused on innovations for measuring resilience to climate extremes (using mobile phone surveys and perception-based evaluation methods).

I currently work with the World Bank as a Senior Consultant helping to design early warning systems for disaster and crisis risk. More specifically, I work in the Bank’s Global Crisis Risk Platform (GCRP), where I’m trying to improve the way we monitor compound risk – i.e. tracking countries where multiple shocks are likely to interact and compound in the weeks or months ahead.

I’ve previously managed a number of large technical assistance programmes across Africa and Asia, having held permanent and visiting positions at leading think tanks, research institutes and multilateral development organisations, including: the Overseas Development Institute; United Nations Development Programme; World Food Programme; CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture And Food Security (CCAFS); and Commonwealth Science and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO).

Policy-oriented research and technical advisory is at the core of what I do. I have been fortunate to have research published in a number of leading journals including Nature Climate Change, Global Environmental Change and Climatic Change, as well as contributing pieces for media outlets such as The Guardian, Thomson Reuters, and Devex.

This site hosts some of the resources and materials related to my work. You can find me on Twitter (@L_P_Jones), Google Scholar, or my ODI, LSE, and Grantham Institute webpages.

For a brief discussion of some of thoughts on measuring resilience and insights from my research see this interview with the Institution for the Study of International Development (ISID) at the McGill University, Canada.