Larissa Fast earned her Ph.D. (2002) from the Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution (ICAR), at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va. Her research focuses primarily on violence against international aid workers. She also is interested in humanitarian politics, development and conflict, evaluation, and peacebuilding.
Fast recently completed a book manuscript, Aid in Danger, which addresses the causes of violence against aid workers and how aid agencies respond.
She also co-authored or edited several major reports on NGO security management, which were published by Save the Children in Washington, D.C., as part of a collaborative project funded by the United States Agency for International Development. Those reports include the "South Sudan Country Report" (pdf), the "Acceptance Toolkit: A practical guide to understanding, assessing, and strengthening your organization’s acceptance approach to NGO security management" (pdf), and the final report, "The Promise of Acceptance" (pdf). A related article (forthcoming) has been accepted in the journal Disasters, one of the leading journals in humanitarian studies.
Other recent publications include a chapter on violence against aid workers in the European Journal of International Relations (March 2010), a chapter on tensions between humanitarian relief and peacebuilding in Strategies of Peace (Oxford University Press, 2010), articles on NGO security (Disasters, August 2007) and co-authored articles on evaluation and peacebuilding (Journal of Peacebuilding and Development, 2005). She was co-editor for a textbook on conflict resolution (Cheldelin, Druckman, and Fast, 2nd edition, 2008).
Fast has worked for international organizations, primarily in North America and Africa, as a project manager, consultant, and trainer.
