Dr. Audra Grant

Audra Grant is a Senior Researcher at the NORC at the University of Chicago, International Programs. She works primarily in fragile and conflict-affected settings primarily in Africa and the Middle East, focusing on the interaction of governance, conflict, illicit trade, and violent extremism. She has over 20 years of experience and has worked in over 20 countries in Africa as well as the Middle East, providing policy and program advice to agencies within the USG and numerous international donors. Audra held senior positions at RAND Corporation and was a career analyst at the U.S. Department of State / INR. She is also a former assistant professor at Al-Akhawayn University, Ifrane, Morocco. Her publications include “Cashing in on Fragility: AQIM and Crime in the Sahelo-Saharan Region,” in Terrorist Criminal Enterprises: Financing Terrorism through Organized Crime, Praeger and “US Policy in the Sahel: Shifting Strategies amid Shifting Threats in a Volatile Region,” in The Security-Migration-Development Nexus Revised: A Perspective from the Sahel, Rome, Italy: Foundation for European Progressive Studies Institute. She is the Co-Chair of the Peace and Security Working Group, Society for International Development and an Advisor for the Women’s Ambassador Foundation, Howard University.