Melissa Leach
Born (1965-01-05) 5 January 1965 (age 59)
NationalityBritish
Alma materSchool of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London
Newnham College, University of Cambridge, UK
Children4
Parent(s)Penelope Jane Leach; Gerald Leach

Melissa Leach is a British social scientist. As of 2017 she is the Director of the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) at the [University of Sussex, UK]. Leach founded and directed the interdisciplinary, internationally-collaborative ESRC STEPS (Social, Technological and Environmental Pathways to Sustainability) Centre from 2006 – 2014. Her interdisciplinary, policy-engaged research in the field of environment, health and development is widely recognised, beyond West Africa, where much of her empirical research work is based.

Education

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She earned her BA (Hons) Geography, University of Cambridge, UK; and her MPhil and PhD in Social Anthropology from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London.

Academic Interests

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Leach's main academic interests are in linking the issues of health, environment, technology and gender with the politics of knowledge, power, science and policy processes.

Awards and Honours

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  • 2016: ESRC Outstanding International Impact Award for Ebola Response Anthropology Platform (ERAP) [1]
  • 2012: European Association for the Study of Science and Technology Ziman Prize for public engagement with science, for STEPS Centre ‘New Manifesto’ initiative [2].
  • 1998: Amaury Talbot Prize of the Royal Anthropological Institute, for best book in African Anthropology, for ‘Misreading the African Landscape’ [3]

Membership/ Professional Activities

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  • Vice-Chair of the Science Committee of Future Earth ( http://www.futureearth.org/ ), steering development of agenda around planetary futures, sustainability and post-2015 development[4].
  • Member of the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (IPES-Food) ( http://www.ipes-food.org/ ) [5].
  • Lead author of the UN Women 2014 World Survey on the Role of Women in Development on gender equality and sustainable development [6].
  • Co-Leader, ISSC World Social Science Report 2016 on Inequalities and Social justice [7].
  • Trustee, Malaria Consortium
  • Advisory Board member, ESRC ‘Nexus Network: New connections in food, energy, water and the environment’ [8].
  • UK Scientific Advisory Group on Emergencies (SAGE) Ebola, 2014 – 15 [9].

Selected Publications

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  • Leach, M. and Scoones, I. eds., 2015. Carbon conflicts and forest landscapes in Africa. Routledge.
  • Leach, M., 2015. The Ebola Crisis and Post‐2015 Development. Journal of International Development, 27(6), pp.816-834.
  • Leach, M., Raworth, K. and Rockström, J., 2013. Between social and planetary boundaries: Navigating pathways in the safe and just space for humanity. World social science report, 2013, pp.84-89.
  • Fairhead, J., Leach, M. and Scoones, I., 2012. Green Grabbing: a new appropriation of nature?. Journal of Peasant Studies, 39(2), pp.237-261.
  • Leach, M., Scoones, I. and Wynne, B., 2005. Science and citizens: globalization and the challenge of engagement (Vol. 2). Zed Books.
  • Fairhead, J. and M. Leach, 1996, Misreading the African landscape: society and ecology in a forest-Savanna mosaic. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press.
  • Leach, M., Mearns, R. and Scoones, I., 1999. Environmental entitlements: dynamics and institutions in community-based natural resource management. World development, 27(2), pp.225-247.
  • Leach, M. and Mearns, R., 1996. Environmental change and policy. The Lie of the Land: challenging received wisdom on the African environment. Oxford: James Currey, pp.1-33.
  • Leach, M. and R. Mearns, 1996, The Lie of the land: Challenging received wisdom on the African environment. Oxford: James Currey Publishers Ltd. and New York: Heinemann
  • Leach, M., 1994, Rainforest relations: Gender and resource use among the Mende of Gola, Sierra Leone. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press and Washington: Smithsonian Institution

Melissa Leach also regularly writes newspaper columns, gives interviews, and public presentations .

References

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Category:Living people Category:Alumni of SOAS, University of London Category:Alumni of Newnham College, Cambridge