Team

Annabel Short

Annabel Short

Principal, It's Material; Research Fellow, IHRB

Annabel is Principal at It’s Material, a consultancy focused on economic transformation and accountability, through research, facilitation and strategic advice. As an IHRB research fellow Annabel provides guidance to the built environment programme. 

Annabel has two decades of experience on business, human rights and climate change, at the international and local city level. Her work has focused on emerging areas of human rights, creative approaches to strategy and campaigns, and sectors with major social and environmental implications such as finance, technology, energy, real estate, and infrastructure. She wrote IHRB’s 2019 foundational report “Dignity by Design: Human Rights and the Built Environment Lifecycle” and developed and led the built environment programme between 2019 – 2022, including its project on just transitions in the built environment

Previously, Annabel was Deputy Director of ALIGN (Alliance for a Greater New York), which advocates for bold climate action, good jobs and social justice in New York City. From 2003-2017, Annabel was Intl. Programme Manager then Deputy Director with Business & Human Rights Resource Centre, where she helped build the organisation and its global presence, and was responsible for the Asia, Middle East and labour rights programmes. 

Annabel has an MsC in International Development from University of London; certificate in International Human Rights Law and Practice from London School of Economics; postgraduate diploma in Periodical Journalism from City University; and an MA in Spanish and French from Edinburgh University. 

There are currently no Briefings by Annabel Short

Commentary: Women And Girls at the Centre of Transformation in the Built Environment

As governments have recognized in multiple fora, action on climate change must be closely connected with action to address gender inequality. This applies to cities and towns, which are undergoing many transformations. They need to strengthen their...

08 March 2022

By Annabel Short, Principal, It's Material; Research Fellow, IHRB, Ying-Chih Deng, Officer, Circular Development, ICLEI

Visitors admire the green wall and sustainable architecture at the Musee du Quai Branly, Paris.

Commentary: Better Building(s) - A Rights-Based Approach to Decarbonisation

As governments gather this week for the Porto Social Summit, they should consider the many ways that climate action in the built environment must be shaped to advance, rather than undermine, human rights.

Across the EU, momentum is growing to...

06 May 2021

By Annabel Short, Principal, It's Material; Research Fellow, IHRB

Commentary: COVID, Housing, and Climate - A Call for a Systems Shift

 The seemingly simple words “stay at home” have exposed the economic and racial inequality that divides most cities, countries, and regions.

The COVID-19 pandemic has elevated the centrality of the right to housing – fundamental to our ability to...

08 April 2020

By Annabel Short, Principal, It's Material; Research Fellow, IHRB

There are currently no Speeches by Annabel Short

There are currently no Submissions by Annabel Short