Helen Mary Josephine Alford (born 1 May 1964 in London, UK) is an economist and dean of social sciences at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas in Rome, Italy.[1] April 1, 2023, was appointed president of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences.[2]
She was born in London and graduated with a doctorate in engineering from the University of Cambridge. Alford taught at Cambridge after receiving her doctorate. She entered the order of Dominican Sisters of Saint Catherine of Siena in 1994.[3] She studied two years theology courses at Blackfriars, Oxford, 1994-1996. From Oct 1996, studied for Licence in Sacred Liturgy at Sant'Anselmo, Rome and from Jan 1999, changed Licence programme to Morals at the Angelicum, Rome.
Alford teaches courses on economic ethics, the history of technology, labor politics, and Catholic social thought; most of her teaching since becoming a Dominican has been at the Angelicum, a university founded and administered by members of that order. Her first assignment there was in 1996; in 2009, she was named full professor. She was elected dean of the social sciences faculty in May 2001 and re-elected for three further terms. She later became vice-rector and then, once again, dean of social sciences in 2021.[4]
Her numerous publications address questions of social ethics, health equity, and the responsible distribution of wealth.[5]
She is member of Editorial Boards of various academic journals, including Journal of Catholic Social Thought, Finance and Commun Good, Transforming Business, OIKONOMIA: journal of ethics and social sciences, Dizionario della Dottrina Sociale della Chiesa: Le cose nuove del XXI secolo.
A selection of her publications follows:
