Dr. Marisa O. Ensor is trained in applied environmental anthropology and human rights law and leads GIWPS’ new climate security portfolio. She has 15+ years of scholarship and practice in environmentally-fragile and conflict affected countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, and the MENA region. Much of Dr. Ensor’s work examines women’s and girls’ positive roles in climate action, disaster risk management, environmental governance, conflict prevention, peacebuilding, and human mobility, focusing on the identification of context-specific solutions.
Prior to joining GIWPS, Dr. Ensor taught at several other universities in the US and abroad, including the American University in Cairo’s Center for Migration and Refugee Studies. She also consulted with various UN agencies, the Economic and Social Research Council, USAID, CGIAR, and the United States Institute of Peace. Her research resulted in numerous publications including five books, over 50 book chapters, journal articles, and dozens of technical and policy briefs.
Dr. Ensor is also an Affiliate Faculty and former Senior Fellow at Georgetown’s Institute for the Study of International Migration, and the current Chair of the Gender Interest Working Group of the Environmental Peacebuilding Association. She is currently co-leading a multi-disciplinary project on the gender-climate-security nexus in 5 countries across the world. Funded by CGIAR and partner organizations, this field-based study focuses on the identification of local climate adaptation strategies, intersectional gender-differentiated sources of resilience, and context-specific solutions.
Dr. Ensor holds MA and PhD degrees in Environmental Anthropology from the University of Florida, a Graduate Certificate in Migration and Refugee Studies from the University of Oxford, UK, and an LLM in International Human Rights Law from the University of Essex, UK.