Lawrence is the director of the Institute of Development Studies, Sussex and the current president of the UK and Ireland's Development Studies Association. He is an Economist and his main research interests are at the intersection of poverty, food insecurity and malnutrition. He was formerly director of the International Food Policy Research Institute's Division of Food Consumption and Nutrition and lecturer in Development Economics at the University Of Warwick. His field research has been in the Philippines, India and South Africa. He has a PhD from Stanford University.
