Ruth Hill joins IFPRI as the new Director of the Markets, Trade, and Institutions Unit

September 3, 2024, Washington, D.C. – The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) is pleased to announce that Ruth Hill joins IFPRI as the new Director of its Markets, Trade, and Institutions (MTI) Unit, starting September 3, 2024. 

Dr. Hill is joining IFPRI from the World Bank, where she served since 2013. During her tenure at the World Bank, she was Lead Economist in the Poverty and Equity Global Practice, leading work on the distributional impacts of climate change, fiscal policy, markets, and institutions. She also led the development of the World Bank’s Rural Income Diagnostics and conducted Poverty Assessments and Systematic Country Diagnostics in East Africa and South Asia. From 2019 to 2021, she was on secondment as the Chief Economist at the UK Centre for Disaster Protection. Prior to working at the World Bank, Ruth was a Senior Research Fellow at IFPRI, conducting impact evaluations on insurance and market interventions. She has published widely in numerous journals, including the Journal of Development Economics, World Bank Economic Review, Economic Development and Cultural Change, Experimental Economics, the American Journal of Agricultural Economics, and World Development. Dr. Hill holds a doctorate in economics from the University of Oxford.

“It’s my great pleasure to warmly welcome Ruth Hill as the new Director of IFPRI’s Markets, Trade, and Institutions Unit,” said Johan Swinnen, Director General of IFPR.  “She brings a wealth of expertise, experience, and enthusiasm to guide IFPRI’s efforts to provide evidence-based policy solutions to build more inclusive and sustainable economic growth in agrifood markets in low- and middle-income markets.”

Markets, Trade, and Institutions Unit (MTI) is part of IFPRI’s Food and Nutrition Policy Department. MTI provides innovative, evidence-based policy solutions to help drive inclusive and sustainable economic growth for smallholders, small and medium enterprises (SMEs), and workers in the agrifood sector. By analyzing local, regional, and global economic environments, trade conditions, and value chains from farm to fork, MTI identifies policies that can transform agricultural and rural economies and build resilience to climatic and market shocks. These policies include measures toward more effective market institutions and regulation, greater market efficiency, lower transaction costs, and reduced food loss and waste, along with greater market access and income and employment opportunities for smallholders, SMEs, and workers in the agrifood sector. MTI conducts research in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

“IFPRI is very grateful to Rob Vos for all his contributions as MTI Director over the past seven years,” added Johan Swinnen, “and we are pleased that he will continue to serve as a Senior Research Fellow.”

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The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) provides research-based policy solutions to sustainably reduce poverty and end hunger and malnutrition. IFPRI’s strategic research aims to identify and analyze alternative international and country-led strategies and policies for meeting food and nutrition needs in low- and middle-income countries, with particular emphasis on poor and vulnerable groups in those countries, gender equity, and sustainability. It is a research center of CGIAR, a worldwide partnership engaged in agricultural research for development. www.ifpri.org 

Media inquiries: Evgeniya Anisimova, e.anisimova@cgiar.org, +1 (202) 627 4394