Nara Sritharan Awarded Post-Doc at Global Research Institute

Human Security Lab is pleased to announce that doctoral researcher Nara Sritharan has accepted a postdoc at the AidData Initiative at the College of William and Mary’s Global Research Institute. 

Nara Sritharan is currently a Ph.D. Candidate in Economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a researcher with Human Security Lab. Her research focuses on the political economy of peace and conflict, in particular peacebuilding and ethnic reconciliation in conflict/post-conflict countries. Her dissertation is concerned with the process of peace consolidation and economic recovery from the devastating conflicts in Sri Lanka and makes a significant contribution to the literature on development and peacebuilding. 

AidData is an interdisciplinary research institute dedicated to researching development and foreign aid and using its research to improve outcomes. The lab provides valuable information to policymakers, academics, and international development organizations with the goal of implementing well informed and highly effective development and foreign aid strategies. Human Security Lab is thrilled that this mission is perfectly suited to Sritharan’s interests and research focus. 

Sritharan will be joining a team dedicated to tracking China’s overseas spending, using the world’s largest dataset on the topic, created by AidData. Sritharan shared, “I am very excited to be part of a team that publicly puts out such valuable data.” And, “I'm also hoping that during my time there, I'll be able to develop a research agenda that could expand further on my research on China's role as an aid donor in conflict countries and the impact on successful long-term peace.” 

We know that Sritharan will thrive in this new role and contribute valuable knowledge to the international community. Congratulations Nara!