Lois Austin has worked for over 20 years in the humanitarian sector. She has undertaken a broad range of field-based and headquarters positions mainly for the ICRC, giving her an understanding of humanitarian issues from policy and operational perspectives. As an independent consultant (working for different UN agencies, NGOs and the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement) She has managed and provided technical inputs into a varied range of humanitarian assistance and protection programs for conflict and disaster-affected populations in a number of complex environments including in the Balkans; the north and south Caucasus; the Middle East; Afghanistan; Asia and throughout Africa.
Ms. Austin has recently undertaken research for DEMAC, looking at the role of diaspora in humanitarian response in East Timor, Pakistan, Somalia, Tunisia and Ukraine.