Professor Larissa Fast

Larissa Fast is Professor of Humanitarian and Conflict Studies at the Humanitarian and Conflict Research Institute (HCRI), University of Manchester, United Kingdom. She is an interdisciplinary scholar working at the intersection of academia, policy, and practice.

Her research addresses two fundamental problems: how best to protect civilians, particularly those who intervene in violent conflict through aid and healthcare, and how to make such interventions more effective, ethical, and responsive to local needs and circumstances.

In addition to her monograph Aid in Danger: The Perils and Promise of Humanitarianism (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2014), she has published dozens of peer-reviewed articles and policy reports.

Fast was the Principal Investigator for the Researching the Impact of Attacks on Healthcare (RIAH) project (2019-2026) and a Co-Investigator on projects examining the ethics of research in conflict and disaster settings (2023-2025) and the uses of data and technology in humanitarian settings (2019-2023).