Dr. Katie Murphy

Biography

Katie Murphy is a Senior Technical Advisor for Early Childhood Development at the International Rescue Committee with over fifteen years of experience in the field of early childhood development and sustainable education. She led the technical design of the Sesame Seeds initiative for the IRC, which received the inaugural MacArthur 100&Change award in December 2017 to provide essential early childhood programming in response to the Syrian crisis. Katie began her career as a Peace Corps Volunteer in El Salvador, where she lived in a rural community for two years teaching at a local school and developing health education and income generation projects. She worked for the IRC in 2005 as an education manager in Chad, supporting Darfurian refugees to build and improve educational and recreational programs for children and youth. Upon returning to the U.S., Katie took a role at the Earth Institute at Columbia University, eventually becoming the Deputy Director of the Global Master’s Development Practice Secretariat. She is currently a PhD candidate in Applied Psychology and Human Development at the University of Pennsylvania, where she has conducted research on early childhood development in Central America, Ecuador, India, Kenya, Mexico, and Thailand.

Research Interests

Experience