Keetie Roelen

Keetie Roelen

Dr. Keetie Roelen is the Deputy Director of the Centre for the Study of Global Development (CSGD). She is also Senior Research Fellow in Poverty and Social Protection in The OU’s Faculty of Wellbeing, Education and Language Studies (WELS).

Keetie’s research focuses on areas of (child) poverty, social protection, and anti-poverty interventions, primarily in relation to children, women, and psychosocial wellbeing. Having previously worked primarily in low- and middle-income contexts, Keetie’s research increasingly takes place in high-income countries, including the UK. As such, Keetie is interested in how a global perspective on development can contribute to interrogating experiences and dynamics of disadvantage and inequality and how to address these. Beyond an interest in crossing geographical boundaries, Keetie’s work is characterised by being interdisciplinary and premised on mixed methods approaches. She is also the lead for the CSGD Policy Brief and Paper series, which seek to disseminate research findings and their implications to a wide range of audiences. This pluralistic take on research in development and focus on affecting change underpins Keetie’s contribution to the CSGD Advisory Board.

Having previously held positions at the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), UK and Maastricht University, Netherlands, Keetie is an Honorary Associate of IDS, Affiliated Researcher of the Global Research Programme on Inequality (GRIP) at University of Bergen, Norway and Advisory Council member of the Partnership of Economic Inclusion (PEI) at the World Bank. She is also founder of Poverty Unpacked - a platform for discussing the hidden dimensions of poverty and author of non-fiction book 'The Empathy Fix. Why Poverty Persists and How to Change It', published by Allen & Unwin.

Keetie has worked with multiple international organisations such as UNICEF, Save the Children, Concern Worldwide and Asian Development Bank, performing research and policy advice work as well as professional training with global reach in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, Caribbean and Central and Eastern Europe, and UK. She is also on the Board of Directors and Trustee of the anti-poverty organisation ATD Fourth World.