Tigranna Zakaryan began her work in Uganda as a US Fulbright Scholar in which she researched the flight histories of settlement-based Congolese refugees through an ethnographic lens in order to inform the challenges they face in establishing socioeconomic livelihoods and integration in Uganda. She worked with host communities and local government structures to gauge their perspectives on the opportunities and challenges they faced as refugee-hosting communities. Tigranna works closely with
refugee-led civil society organisations and diaspora networks, with particular focus on capacity building activities geared toward developing their platforms as decision-makers in the stability and democratic processes of their origin countries. Prior to her work in Uganda, Tigranna worked as a community organiser in the US and focused her efforts on supporting immigrant and diaspora communities that have been affected by genocide. Her efforts included informing the understanding of local American constituencies to engage in broader policy efforts prioritising prevention mechanisms, and positioning them to act on behalf of those who have been, and continue to be affected by genocide and mass atrocities.