John Thon Majok is Director of MPI’s Refugee and Forced Displacement Initiative (RAFDI), which seeks to expand the space for new perspectives, constructive dialogue, and sustainable solutions through evidence-based analysis, aiming to inform policies and improve approaches for understanding forced displacement in a global context. Majok is also Senior Advisor for Institutional Development at MPI.
His research—informed by lived experience in refugee camps in Ethiopia and Kenya—focuses on conflict-induced forced displacement and refugee resilience, agency, self-reliance, integration, education, resettlement, and durable solutions to protracted displacement, with a special interest in East Africa.
Prior to joining MPI in 2025, Majok worked at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, where he was the Founding Director of the Refugee and Forced Displacement Initiative; Deputy Director of Development; Senior Director of Grants Management; and Senior Program Analyst for the Global Risk and Resilience Program, among other duties.
From 2010 to 2012, Majok worked at the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, where he developed strategic outreach plans for global alumni of the U.S. government exchange programs. From 2007 to 2009, he was a Program Officer at the Council of American Overseas Research Centers, where he managed a study abroad portfolio of the U.S. Department of State’s Critical Language Scholarship Program. In 2006, he coordinated the global recruitment of skilled South Sudanese for the Diaspora Skills Transfer Program for Southern Sudan.
Majok graduated with honors from the University of Arizona with a Bachelor of Science in public administration and policy. He holds a Master of Public Administration from George Mason University. He serves on the board of directors of Jesuit Refugee Service, Refugee Investment Network, and the Center for Migration Studies.