Daniel MaxwellHenry J. Leir Professor in Food Security and Research Director
Director, Master of Arts in Humanitarian Assistance (MAHA) Program
Daniel Maxwell is the Henry J. Leir Professor in Food Security at the Friedman School of Nutrition and The Fletcher School at Tufts University, and Research Director at the Feinstein International Center. In 2016-2017, he served as the acting director of the Center. His recent research focuses on food security and the re-emergence of famines in the 21st century. He teaches courses on humanitarian action and humanitarian policy, as well as famine and food insecurity. He directs the Master of Arts in Humanitarian Assistance (MAHA) program at Tufts.
He is the author, with Kirsten Gelsdorf, of Understanding the Humanitarian World (Routledge, 2019). He is the author, with Nisar Majid, of Famine in Somalia: Competing Imperatives, Collective Failures (Oxford University Press, 2016). He is the co-author, with Chris Barrett of Cornell University, of Food Aid After Fifty Years: Recasting Its Role (Routledge, 2005).
Since 2014, Dan has been a member of the Famine Review Committee for the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification system—the formal mechanism by which contemporary famines are analyzed and declared. Prior to joining the faculty at Tufts, Dan worked for two decades for humanitarian agencies, mostly in Africa. His most recent position was Deputy Regional Director for Eastern and Central Africa for CARE International.
He holds a B.Sc. from Wilmington College, a master’s degree from Cornell University, and a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin.
- Famine and acute humanitarian crises
- Humanitarian information systems and the politics of information and analysis
- Early warning and anticipatory action
- Emergency preparedness and contingency planning
- The “localization” of humanitarian action
- Resilience, livelihoods, food security, and food security measurement
- Livelihood systems under stress
- Humanitarian action and policy
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Greater Horn of Africa
- North Africa/Middle East
- Humanitarian Action in Complex Emergencies (NUTR 229/DHP D230), Fall Term
- Seminar in Humanitarian Issues (NUTR 223), Fall Term
- Famine, Livelihoods, and Resilience (NUTR 339), Spring Term
- International Humanitarian Response (NUTR 324/DHP D-213), Spring Term
- Bapu Vaitla, Jennifer Cisse, Joanna Upton, Girmay Tesfaye, Nigussie Abadi, and Daniel Maxwell. 2020. “How the choice of food security indicators affects the assessment of resilience—an example from northern Ethiopia.” Food Security. Vol. 12(1), pp.137–150. .
- Maxwell, Daniel, and Kirsten Heidi Gelsdorf. Understanding the Humanitarian World. (London: Routledge 2019).
- Maxwell, Daniel, and Peter Hailey. “Foreword: The Re-Emergence of Famine in the 21st Century.” Special Edition on, “La lutte contre la famine: un mythe de Sisyphe?” Politorbis. No. 66 (2018), pp. 13-22.
- Maxwell, Daniel and Nisar Majid. Famine in Somalia: Competing Imperatives, Collective Failures. (Oxford University Press, 2016).
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