Prof. Naohiko Omata

Bio

Professor Naohiko Omata is Associate Professor at Refugee Studies Centre, Department of International Development, University of Oxford. He has been leading the large-scale multi-country research programme entitled Refugee Economies which focuses on economic outcomes for refugees and host populations in East Africa. Naohiko received his PhD in Development Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), London, where he subsequently taught in Development Studies. He has also worked as a practitioner and consultant for UNDP, UNHCR, and international and local NGOs in Sub-Saharan African countries. He has published widely on refugee economic lives based on extensive research in Sub-Saharan Africa. His book, The Myth of Self-Reliance, was recently short-listed for the BSA/BBC Ethnography Award (2018).

Publications/recent projects

• Who takes advantage of mobility? Exploring the nexus between refugees’ movement, livelihoods and socioeconomic status in West Africa (2017)
• The Myth of Self-Reliance: Economic Lives Inside a Liberian Refugee Camp (2017)
• Refugee Economies: Forced Displacement and Development (2016)
• Refugee economies in Kenya: preliminary study in Nairobi and Kakuma camp (2016)
• Humanitarian Innovation Project (2012)