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

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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.

 
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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.