Elizabeth Ferris

Elizabeth Ferris is a senior fellow in foreign policy and the co-director of the Brookings-LSE Project on Internal Displacement in Washington, D.C.

Prior to joining Brookings in November 2006, Ferris spent 20 years working in the field of humanitarian assistance, most recently in Geneva, Switzerland at the World Council of Churches. There she was responsible for the Council’s work in humanitarian response and long-term development. In this capacity, she worked with many local, national, and international nongovernmental organizations to support capacity building and to advocate for the protection of refugees, internally displaced persons, and other populations affected by conflict.

She has also served as the director of the Church World Service’s Immigration and Refugee Program, the research director for the Life & Peace Institute in Uppsala, Sweden, and a Fulbright professor at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. Her teaching experience has included positions at Lafayette College, Miami University, and Pembroke State University.

Her articles have appeared in Refugee Survey Quarterly, Forced Migration Review, Journal of Refugee Studies, The Washington Post, The Washington Times, International Review of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, and many other publications. Her most recent book, “The Politics of Protection: The Limits of Humanitarian Action,” was published by Brookings Institution Press in April 2011.

Ferris received her bachelor’s from Duke University and her master’s and doctorate from the University of Florida.