Alasdair Cohen is a joint Ph.D./MPH recipient from UC Berkeley’s Department of Environmental Sciences, Policy and Management and School of Public Health.

During his time at Berkeley, his research focused on water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), household water treatment (HWT), water resources management, poverty metrics, and monitoring & evaluation (M&E) in Asia. With the goal of expanding access to safe water, reducing exposure household air pollution, and improving environmental health, he has worked with the Chinese Center of Disease Control & Prevention to better understand the relationships and drivers between water-related behaviors and beliefs, drinking water quality, fuel use, gender, and poverty in rural China.  

Over the past decade, Alasdair Cohen has designed and led research initiatives and projects for United Nations agencies on issues related to rural poverty, development and water resources. He is the author of The Multidimensional Poverty Assessment Tool, published by the International Fund for Agricultural Development in 2009, as well as other UN publications, technical reports and working papers.