Séverine is Director of International Development at the Laudato Si’ Research Institute and Associate Fellow at the Oxford Department of International Development. 

Her research is in the area of development ethics, broadly defined as a critical ethical reflection on the meaning of ‘progress’ and the means to achieve it. Most of her research has focused on the works in ethics and economics by Indian economist and philosopher Amartya Sen, and the Catholic social tradition. Her regional expertise is Latin America, and she has had extensive academic collaboration with universities in the region. Her research interests include natural resource extraction and global value chains, the role of social movements and faith-based actors in reducing inequality and creating more sustainable economies.

As Director of International Development at the LSRI, Séverine works at bringing spiritual and theological traditions into dialogue with the social sciences on matters of global socio-economic development and sustainability. Her books include Human Development and the Catholic Social Tradition (Routledge, 2021), Wellbeing, Justice and Development Ethics (Routledge, 2014), Religion in Development (Zed Books, 2009), Transforming Unjust Structures (Springer, 2006). She has published many articles on development ethics and the role of religion in development, including in World Development, Third World Quarterly, Development and Change.

She has been a Visiting Fellow at the Kellogg Institute in the University of Notre Dame (2017-2018), and a Visiting Research Professor at the Catholic University of Argentina (2014-2015). Prior to joining the Laudato Si’ Research Institute, Séverine was Associate Professor in International Development at the University of Bath.