Dr. Sara Daub is a Research Fellow at the Hertie School’s Centre for International Security and a Postdoctoral Fellow at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies in Washington D.C. Her position is affiliated with the Henry A. Kissinger Center for Global Affairs and supported by the DAAD/ Federal Foreign Ministry. Sara’s research focuses on international relations, specialising in conflict and migration studies. She employs quantitative and mixed-method approaches to study non-state actor’s behavior, internationalised civil wars, diaspora politics, rebel governance, foreign aid, and policy preferences. Currently, Sara investigates how external actors impact conflict dynamics and civilian victimisation, as well as political support for militant groups and its global impact. Sara obtained her PhD in Political Science from the Hertie School (2024). Her dissertation examines causes and consequences of diaspora sponsorship for rebel organisations and was awarded the Christiane-Rajewsky-Preis 2025 for outstanding research in peace and conflict studies. During her PhD, Sara was a Fulbright visiting researcher at the University of Maryland, College Park and a DAAD-funded visiting researcher at Uppsala University. She was also a Civil Wars Paths fellow at the Centre for the Comparative Study of Civil War at the University of York. Sara holds a Master’s degree in Development Studies specialising in Economics from the University of Passau and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and Political Science from the University of Göttingen.
