Luisa Ryan has more than 20 years’ experience working in international development globally, working for government, the United Nations and NGOs. She is a skilled humanitarian and has completed several Australia Assists deployments.
As MERLA Advisor at Abt Global, Luisa provides quality MERLA advice and across Abt Australia’s international development programs. Luisa has significant experience in the areas of conflict, gender, and strategic communications, and has been the MERL Specialist on programs in Nepal, the US, Liberia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Peru and Syria.
Before joining Abt, Luisa focused on consultancy work and humanitarian deployments. As an Australia Assists deployee, Luisa worked in Cambodia, Samoa and in the Central Sahel. Luisa has also lectured at the University of Queensland, to the Australian Defence Force, and international diplomatic and military colleges on humanitarian action, gender and international relations. She is fluent in French.
Luisa was a Rotary Fellow to Duke-University of North Carolina in 2009-11 and was the University of Queensland’s Distinguished Young Alumni in 2014. She is currently undertaking postgraduate studies in Climate Change Adaptation at Griffith University.
Expertise
- Evaluation
- Research
- Gender and social inclusion
- Humanitarian Policy
- Protection of Civilians
Key Projects
- Australia-Papua New Guinea Economic Partnership
- ACCESS2
Education
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Master of Journalism and Mass Communication
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Graduate Certificate in Peace and Conflict Studies
- University of Queensland Graduate Certificate in Applied Law
- University of Queensland Bachelor of Sociology (Hons.)
- University of Queensland Bachelor of Arts (International Relations, French, Spanish)