Sophia Murphy is the Executive Director of the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy. She has over thirty years of experience in public policy design and analysis, focused on food systems and international trade.

She has primarily worked with civil society organizations but also as a consultant with governments and inter-governmental organizations. She has authored widely-cited academic articles, book chapters, and many policy reports and briefings, as well as op-eds and shorter articles. She is an experienced public speaker. Recurrent themes in her work include the role of trade in food security, public tools to manage shocks and build resilience in food systems, and protection of the universal right to food. 

Sophia served two terms as a member of the steering committee of the UN High Level Panel of Experts to the Committee on World Food Security and Nutrition. She was also co-author of the panel’s first report, on food price volatility.

Sophia has an MA from Oxford University, an MSc (awarded with distinction) from the London School of Economics, and a PhD from the Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability at the University of British Columbia. She was awarded both a Vanier and a Trudeau Foundation scholarship for her PhD.