E.g., 06/18/2024
E.g., 06/18/2024
Lawrence Huang
Experts & Staff
Photo of Lawrence Huang

Lawrence Huang

Policy Analyst

[email protected]
202-266-1932

@Lawrence_Huang9

Lawrence Huang is a Policy Analyst with MPI’s International Program, primarily working on climate and migration. His research areas also include development and migration, border management, and refugee protection. He leads a research project on climate and migration and the intersections with development, social cohesion, labor migration, and protection. He has also worked on issues around climate financing, conducted external evaluations of climate migration programming, and advised governments, international organizations, and multilateral development banks working on the issue. He also supports MPI’s work on borders and mobility, including MPI’s Task Force on Borders and Mobility During and After COVID-19.

Media Requests
Michelle Mittelstadt
+1 202-266-1910
+44 20 8123 6265
[email protected]

Previously, Mr. Huang worked as a consultant at the International Organization for Migration, where he led capacity-building and knowledge management in an 11-country global program on migration and sustainable development. Earlier, he was an Editor at the Oxford Monitor of Forced Migration and co-ran the annual conference of the Oxford Migration Studies Society.

He holds a master’s degree in migration studies from the University of Oxford, funded by the Healy Scholarship at St. Cross College, and a BA in government with honors from Georgetown University.

Bio Page Tabs

A woman and child walk in the Somali region of Ethiopia.
Feature
November 16, 2023
Climate Migration 101: An Explainer

Is climate change a major driver of migration and displacement? From where are people leaving, and where are they going? This informative primer, a Climate Migration 101 of sorts, provides answers to basic questions about climate change and migration, starting with how and where climate change triggers human movement.

Women with children and a donkey in Ethiopia.
Feature
March 1, 2023
Efforts to Manage Climate Migration Are Slowly Growing, but Their Focus Is Often Indirect

Can haphazard, unplanned climate displacement be turned into voluntary, safe migration? Projects explicitly aimed at addressing internal and international climate migration are rare, but development organizations increasingly are turning their attention to supporting them. This article catalogues climate mobility projects around the world and examines their primary goals, whether to support the movement or stay of people or help at destination.

Photo of a group of women collecting water from a riverbed in Kenya
Commentaries
October 2022
Why Financing Responses to Climate Migration Remains a Challenge
By  Lawrence Huang
Two adults and two children wearing face masks at a migration health centre in Nigeria
Commentaries
May 2022
Managing Mobility in the Pandemic Era Requires World to Buy In on Shared Principles
By  Meghan Benton and Lawrence Huang

Recent Activity

Commentaries
October 2022

Why Financing Responses to Climate Migration Remains a Challenge

Despite years of alarmist discourse that climate change will lead to hundreds of millions, if not billions, of people moving to the Global North, funding the scale of efforts needed to address climate migration remains a persistent challenge. This commentary examines the gaps between climate donors and migration actors and offers recommendations to begin to break the silos.

Expert Q&A, Audio
August 2, 2022

Digital Health Credentials in India and Africa: Are COVID-19 Travel Passes Catalyzing New Tech Innovations?

Digital innovations—including automatic verification of health and vaccination results—are reopening economies and global mobility while setting the standard for new ways of managing mobility and health that will outlast the pandemic. Dr. Pramod Varma, chief architect of India's COVID pass system, DIVOC; Dr. Edem Adzogenu, founder of the Afro Champions Initiative; and MPI's Lawrence Huang discuss these innovations on this episode of Moving Beyond Pandemic.

Commentaries
May 2022

Managing Mobility in the Pandemic Era Requires World to Buy In on Shared Principles

Many countries are reopening for international travel and migration after the shutdown forced by the pandemic. Yet there is still no consensus on whether and how to use travel measures to prevent the spread of future variants of COVID-19 or respond to the next public health crisis. This commentary lays out four guiding principles for building an inclusive and effective global mobility system.

Reports
May 2022

COVID-19 and the State of Global Mobility in 2021

Despite high hopes that international movement would be revived in 2021 after the deep chill in 2020 with designation of a global pandemic, cross-border mobility remained limited as migrants and travelers faced complex rules, high costs, and uncertainty as new COVID-19 variants emerged. This report assesses global mobility in 2021, including changing use of travel restrictions, their impacts on mobile populations, and efforts to safely restart migration and travel.

Reports
April 2022

Digital Health Credentials and COVID-19: Can Vaccine and Testing Requirements Restart Global Mobility?

Digital health credentials that verify a person’s COVID-19 vaccination, testing, or recovery status are a central part of efforts to restart international travel and migration. This report explores these credentials’ use to date and persistent challenges, including those related to international coordination and technical compatibility between systems. It also recommends strategies to more fully leverage their potential and make them more inclusive.

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