At UNRISD, Shea McClanahan assisted Katja Hujo from 2006 to 2008 in the Social Policy and Development programme on a new project that examines mechanisms for financing social policy and poverty reduction in the developing world.
Shea holds a bachelor’s degree in Spanish and International Studies from Baylor University and joint masters’ degrees in Public Affairs (LBJ School of Public Affairs) and Latin American Studies (Lozano Long Institute of Latin American Studies), both from the University of Texas at Austin. Her
master’s thesis explored the causes and collapse of the alternative currency systems, or “barter clubs”, that emerged throughout Argentina during the economic crisis of 2001-2002. In 2003, through the LBJ School’s Center for Health and Social Policy, she carried out research on Medicare reform in the United States and co-authored a chapter in an
edited book on this subject.
At the time of her tenure at UNRISD Shea was pursuing a PhD in Government from the University of Texas at Austin, where she specialized in the fields of Comparative Politics and International Relations.