Julian Walker is the Co-Director of the MSc Programme in Social Development Practice, the Director of the DPU's Training and Advisory Services, and the Co-Director of the DPU's Gender Policy and Planning Programme

I am a social development practitioner, with a background in social anthropology. Starting with work on involuntary resettlement, my original interest in social development was focused on how 'social' impacts of infrastructure and economic development projects are defined and addressed, and how they can be managed to ensure more equitable outcomes, by promoting the active participation of affected citizens and the protection of their rights. This emphasis on equity has led me to also focus on issues of gender equality and social diversity more generally.

My social assessment work has included work with both donor funded infrastructure projects (in China and the Philippines) and private sector infrastructure projects in the oil and gas industry (in the Russian Federation and Egypt). My work on gender equality and social diversity has included support to development organizations which are working to bring a gender equality perspective to their interventions, including housing and infrastructure projects, rural livelihood projects and health programmes, with a specific focus on HIV/AIDS. I have carried out this programmatic work on gender equality with organizations working in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe and Central Asia. In addition my work  has included support to the development of institutional strategies for mainstreaming gender equality into the work of multi-lateral and bi-lateral development agencies. A key component of this institutional capacity building work has been the development and implementation of training on gender policy and planning for development professionals.