Professional Biography
Displacement governance, public systems and institutional design.
Samuel Cheung is the Founder and Director of Displacement Policy, an independent research platform examining the governance, institutional design and financing of displacement.
He previously served for more than two decades with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), including as Chief of Internal Displacement, Chief of Protection from Violence and Displacement, and Global Protection Cluster Coordinator. His experience encompasses international protection policy, humanitarian leadership, field operations and coordination across Asia, the Middle East and Africa.
Before joining UNHCR, he practiced international capital markets law at Allen & Overy in Hong Kong. He holds a Juris Doctor from Georgetown University and a BA in Public Policy from Duke University.
His current research focuses on the institutional and fiscal architecture of displacement governance: how ordinary public systems, national institutions and financing arrangements can respond more sustainably to displacement. His work examines the displacement continuum, sustainable inclusion, adaptive social protection, public finance and the political economy of institutional reform, including applications to conflict-, disaster- and climate-related displacement.