Professor Eric Awich Ochen completed his doctoral studies at the Centre for Applied Childhood Studies in the School of Human and Health Sciences, University of Huddersfield, in November 2011, graduating in July 2012. His PhD explores the narratives of young women’s experiences of the conflict and reintegration process in Northern Uganda. Eric graduated with an MSc in Development and Project Planning (with Distinction) from the University of Bradford in 2002 and holds a bachelor’s degree in Social Work and Social Administration, from Makerere University in Uganda (1999).
Professor Ochen has had post-doctoral training at the Universities of Cambridge and Bradford in the UK, where he was also visiting Honorary Senior Lecturer under the Commonwealth Scholarship commission. Eric currently lectures at the Makerere University’s Department of Social Work and Social Administration within the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, where he is a Senior Lecturer.
He has previously worked with War Child Canada, Boston Tufts University’s Project addressing issues of gender and conflict in northern Uganda, Save the Children Denmark, World Vision, and Gulu Support the Children Organisation and Community Development Resource Network. He has supported several development agencies as an evaluation and project development consultant. These include DFID, USAID, UNHCR, UNDP, UNICEF, and several international and local organisations. His experience spans several thematic areas: social development, conflict and peace building, gender and protection, children rights, education and training, governance, agriculture and rural livelihoods.
He is the author of several articles on children and young people in conflict situations and has published in several journals such as the Journal of Community Practice, Anthropology Southern Africa, Infant Mental Health, Journal of Childhood in Africa published by Ohio University Press, British Journal of Social work, and the journal of Child abuse and Neglect. Dr Ochen has also contributed chapters to high level book publications with Routledge Taylor and Francis, Sage, Springer, and Indiana University Press.
Professor Ochen currently serves as a reviewer for British Journal of Social Work, and the Journal of Child Abuse and Neglect. As part of his contributions to Community, he sits on the board of Acholi Community Empowerment Network, a local NGO in northern Uganda which aims at transforming the socio-economic circumstances of communities formerly affected by war. It more specifically targets women and widows whose livelihoods were extensively disrupted by the two decades’ insurgency in Northern Uganda.