David Hanrahan

David has more than 30 years’ experience on international projects and policy, particularly on urban, industrial and water-related challenges in developing countries. He has a rare mix of professional engineering training; qualifications in natural resources economics; on-the-ground experience in more than twenty developing countries; and the ability to use this learning to achieve practical outcomes to complex problems. His current professional activities are focused on developing practical solutions to pollution and health challenges worldwide, working with an international NGO, and on assignments from international agencies, including oversight of a global effort to identify and characterise toxic hot-spots and support for locally-led remediation of contaminated sites in Russia, India, China, and several Central Asian countries.

At the same time, he continues to undertake assignments and research in waste management, water resources and sustainability issues, including review of the impacts of mining in Madagascar and oil development in Kazakhstan.

He is a chartered engineer in the UK and has an MSc in policy analysis from MIT. While working at the World Bank, he was involved in institutional efforts to standardise environmental and social approaches across international institutions, as well as taking a lead on the practical application of strategic environmental assessment to the Bank’s operations. He is currently based in the UK.