Lucy Walmsley is coordinator of the Research and Expertise Centre for Survey Methodology (RECSM) within Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF). She is also project manager for various RECSM research initiatives, such as Project COORDINATE and GUIDE.

Lucy completed the NOHA+ Erasmus Mundis Joint Master´s Degree Programme in International Humanitarian Action at the University of Deusto in the Basque Country and the University of Groningen, The Netherlands.

During the second year of the Master´s programme, she sought a work placement with an NGO in La Guajira, Columbia, where she also conducted ethnographic field work for her thesis. The thesis explored decision-making power and ownership by local affected populations over the international cooperation projects implemented in their communities. More specifically, the research problematized the context analysis method, which is the starting point of most international cooperation projects. The thesis compared the reality of how international cooperation professionals understand diverse localities through the context analysis method with how local inhabitant populations feel their contexts should be understood. In doing so it reveals differing priorities and the imposition of international cooperation ideologies onto affected populations´ localities, which ultimately influences the progression and outcome of the projects implemented in ways which impede local ownership and decision-making power.

Her research interests cover crosscutting social and environmental issues alongside ethnographic research methodologies.

Lucy has also worked on ethnographic film projects covering diverse environmental and social issues in addition to having worked in social organisations in the UK and Catalunya as a project technician, coordinator and manager. Whilst working for a civil society consultancy in the UK, she gained experience designing surveys and collecting survey data in order to carry out investigations for diverse entities, such as the National Health Service, local government and to gather feedback internally for the consultancy. As a result, she has developed an interest and practical experience in survey methodologies in line with RECSM´s objectives.