Biography

Greta Semplici earned a D.Phil. (Ph.D.) from the Oxford Department of International Development. Her research explored the concept of resilience in the development and humanitarian sector in the context of drylands. She conducted an ethnographic study on the understanding of resilience from the perspective of mobile pastoralists in Turkana County, in the arid lands of Northern Kenya. Her current research interests lie at the interface between nomadism, mobility, and migration drawing lessons from the experiences of ‘mobile peoples’ understood as social groups for whom mobility is central to social, political and economic organization. She is also interested in humans-animals-environment relationships, and broader issues concerning development and international cooperation.

Previously, Greta worked for FAO Somalia as Monitoring and Evaluation International Consultant and collaborated with LAMA Development and Cooperation Agency for research on social protection strategies in rural Malawi. She also held several RA positions with ODI (Overseas Development Institute), IMI (International Migration Institute), and the EUI (European University Institute). She holds a B.A. in Development Economics and International Cooperation (laurea triennale) and an M.Sc. in Development Economics (laurea specialistica) from the University of Florence. Greta will spend the academic year 2021/22 working on her book manuscript, provisionally titled, ‘Moving Deserts: Resilience and Development in the Drylands’.

Expertise for Teaching and Mentoring of Ph.D. Researchers
Greta has taught development economics and qualitative research methods. She has expertise on development studies, livelihood studies, pastoralism and rangeland research.

Research projects, clusters and working groups

Completed

• Pastoralism, uncertainty and resilience: global lessons from the margins

Recent research output

• GONZALES, Giulia; NORI, Michele; ROY, Olivier; SEMPLICI, Greta; THOLENS, Simone (2023), External interventions, local realities : what can we learn from lessons (not) learned, Other
• SEMPLICI, Greta (2021), Resilience and the mobility of identity : belonging and change among Turkana herders in northern Kenya, Article
• MARU, Natasha; NORI, Michele; SCOONES, Ian; SEMPLICI, Greta; TRIANDAFYLLIDOU, Anna (2022), Embracing uncertainty : rethinking migration policy through pastoralists’ experiences, Article
• SEMPLICI, Greta (2019), Seeing like the herder : climate change and pastoralists’ knowledge : insights from Turkana herders in Northern Kenya, Contribution to book
• SEMPLICI, Greta (2020), Resilience in action : local practices and development/humanitarian policies : a review of resilience in the drylands of Turkana, Technical Report
• PAPPAGALLO, Linda; SEMPLICI, Greta (2020), Editorial introduction methodological mess : doing research in contexts of high variability, Article