News
The Human Security Lab at UMass-Amherst supports a community of researchers and students identifying pathways to freedom from fear (violence, conflict, human rights abuse); freedom from want (economic security, food security, climate security, health security); and exploring the science of science in global and human security in partnership with researchers, stakeholders and practitioners across the globe.
Who We Are
What We Do
The Human Security Lab at UMass-Amherst convenes international working groups of academic and practitioner experts around understudied issues in human security; engages, collaborates and consults with human security practitioners, stakeholders and civil society groups to identify, amplify and address understudied research questions; implements, visualizes and disseminates innovative research through interdisciplinary student-faculty teams; and puts the academy and practitioner world in dialogue through webinars, consultancies, briefing notes and visually engaging science communication.
What is Human Security?
The concept of “human security,” originally articulated by UN Secretary General Boutrous Boutrous Ghali, puts the well-being of vulnerable populations, rather than protection of state borders, at the center of security thinking. With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the transnational nature of threats to human security and the value of strong global architectures in the human interest has become increasingly evident to governments, global policy-makers and, and bilateral donors.