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Lily Marie Rubino

PhD student | Gates Cambridge Scholar

Lily is a Gates Cambridge Scholar exploring the everyday experiences of household water insecurity in upstate New York, challenging the widespread imaginary of universal water access in the Global North.

Biography

Career

  • Philanthropy Manager | WaterAid America, USA | 2016 – 2020
  • Education Research & Policy Fellow | Civic Enterprises, USA | 2012 – 2013

Qualifications

  • PhD student in Geography | University of Cambridge, UK | 2020 – Present
  • MSc in Anthropology, Environment, Development | University College London, UK | 2013 – 2014
  • BA (summa cum laude) in Anthropology and Environmental Science | College of William and Mary, USA | 2008 – 2012

Awards

  • Gates Cambridge Scholarship (2020 – 2024)
  • Dissertation Research Grant | UCL Anthropology (2014)
  • Mary Douglas Scholarship | UCL Anthropology (2013)

Research

Over the past decade a body of research has emerged that seeks to understand the scale and distribution of water insecurity in the United States, challenging the widespread imaginary of universal access in the Global North. This research has been highly impactful, however, there remain few examples of deeply situated studies which situate everyday experiences of water insecurity within broader social and political contexts. My PhD research seeks to address this gap by exploring how water insecurity is experienced within and across households in a small city in the USA (Newburgh, NY), how these experiences impact the development of individual and collective political subjectivities, and how distributed forms of social, political, and economic power intersect with race, class and gender to (re)produce conditions of water insecurity and enable or constrain forms of resistance.

Publications

Presentations

  • February 2022: Universal Access? Uncovering everyday experiences of urban water insecurity in Newburgh, NY, for American Association of Geographers Annual Meeting, New York, NY
  • March 2019: A Confluence of Change: Contemporary Forces Impacting Water Security of the Colombian Wayuu, Society for Applied Anthropology Annual Meeting, Portland, OR
  • October 2017: Indicator Efficacy: Anthropological Approaches to Evaluating Household Water Access in the Colombian
    Amazon
    , Water and Health Conference: Where Science Meets Policy, Chapel Hill, NC
  • March 2017: Indicator Efficacy: Anthropological Approaches to Evaluating Household Water Access in the Colombian
    Amazon,
    Society for Applied Anthropology Annual Meeting, Santa Fe, NM

Publications

  • 2013: Four district case studies in Bridgeland, et al. The Missing Piece: A National Teacher Survey on How Social and Emotional Learning Can Empower Children and Transform Schools. CASEL

Teaching

  • 2020: Supervisor, Paper 4: Citizenship, Cities and Civil Society | University of Cambridge, UK
  • 2016 – 2018: Adjunct Professor, Science and Technological Literacy | Iona College, USA

External activities

  • Mentor | Students for Global Health UCL Mentorship Scheme
  • Member | American Association of Geographers