Young Lives is a longitudinal study of childhood poverty which has been based at the department for over 15 years. 

Professor McKay joins us from the University of Sussex where he was Professor of Development Economics. Most recently, his research has focused on labour issues in developing countries, in particular on gender and young people. He also works on poverty/inequality and how these are impacted by policy; informality; health issues; and on international trade. He brings extensive experience of giving policy advice to bilateral donors, international organisations and governments of developing countries and was also an associate director of the DFID-funded Chronic Poverty Research Centre (www.chronicpoverty.org) from 2005–11. 

'I have long been inspired by Young Lives’ work and am delighted to be joining the team as Director', he said. 'We are entering an exciting phase of the study, when both the younger and older cohorts are engaging with the challenges of young adulthood. Covid-19 now makes these life transitions particularly challenging and our longitudinal data can offer important insights into the pandemic’s short and medium-long term impacts on young people. I look forward to continuing the excellent work of my predecessors and leading Young Lives research across our entire portfolio'.

Professor McKay takes over from Interim Director, ODID Head of Department, Professor Diego Sanchez-Ancochea.

Find out more on the Young Lives website.