Larisa Lara is the Global Diaspora Expert at IOM HQ, with a decade of expertise in Migration and Development. She collaborates with governments, international organizations, diasporas, and policymakers, specializing in diaspora engagement programming and policy. Larisa holds a PhD from Université Paris Cité and the University of Liège, an MSc in Migration Studies from the University of Oxford, and an MA in Conflict, Security, and Development from King’s College London. Her research interests include emigration policies, diasporas in conflict and development, and political transnationalism. Larisa was a finalist in the VIII Worldwide Competition for Junior Sociologists in 2021.