About
Tom is interim Head of Research at FLIA and the co-founder of the Activism, Influencing and Change Programme. He has over fourteen years of experience in humanitarian and development settings. For his PhD, he investigated support provided to Pakistani activists by Britain's development agency.
Tom has since delivered a range of research projects focused on civil society in conflict-affected places, with a focus on South Asia and East Africa. He has delivered consultancy projects across multiple development and crisis-affected countries, for clients as diverse as the FCDO, UN agencies, development contractors, philanthropic foundations and civil society organisations. This includes supporting them to craft influencing strategies to solve pressing challenges and designing and leading influencing courses for senior humanitarian and development leaders.
Tom has taught a course on activism at the LSE with Professor Duncan Green for seven years and is also an academic mentor. His research interests include the provision of security and justice in conflict-affected regions, protection, social accountability, digital public infrastructure, civil society, activism, governance and public authority.
Tom has lived and worked in Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Timor-Leste, the DRC, South Sudan and Kenya. Tom is the Online Editor for Global Policy.