Experts & Staff

Lauren Goers Williams is an Associate in the Institutions and Governance Program. As part of the Governance of Forests Initiative team, her research focuses on promoting good governance of forests in a range of policy and practical contexts, and developing analytical tools for identifying and addressing forest governance challenges. She supports GFI’s efforts to promote the role of good governance in the design of programs to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+). She also provides research support and strategic guidance to GFI’s civil society partners in Cameroon.

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Prior to joining WRI, Lauren worked in molecular biology research at Duke University Medical Center. She has also interned with the North Carolina Sierra Club and World Wildlife Fund-US in Washington, DC.

Lauren holds a Masters in Environmental Management from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, where she was a 2008 Doris Duke Conservation Fellow. She holds undergraduate degrees in Biology and French from Wake Forest University.

Lauren lives in Baltimore, MD with her husband, Russell, and her dog, Darwin.