Category: Staff blogs

by Duncan ShawGlobal disasters are on the rise, and with 24-hour news and social media, so are the numbers who hear about them and want to help.  From recent events in Paris, to last year’s severe flooding in the UK, volunteers played a part in rescue efforts.  But...

by Roger Mac GintyA predictable side debate of the dreadful attacks on Brussels relates to the relative newsworthiness of mass atrocities. The debate is most visible on Facebook and Twitter where some people choose to overlay their portrait with the Belgian flag (and...

by Dr. Tammam Aloudat (Deputy Medical Director, Medecins Sans Frontieres, Switzerland) The past weeks have seen Madaya, a town in Syria, reach the news headlines for a few brief days, and then fall into oblivion again. This is because the town has been subjected to a...

by Jessica Hawkins Lecturer in Humanitarian Studies @HawkinsJessicaRTaking students on fieldwork can present a minefield of ethical and practical challenges (see Roger Mac Ginty’s blog on this). This is multiplied ten-fold when your research sites are areas which have...

Pierre FullerWeb searches remain the predominant avenue for non-academic researchers seeking historical data or contextualisation. Yet online searches on the major topics that I have been researching and publishing on for years – famine, earthquakes and other types...

Zoia Parvez, @TMZ_Ziggy Having recently completed my MA program in Humanitarianism and Conflict Response at the University of Manchester, one of the most rewarding opportunities was being able to present my dissertation, “The Realities and Practical Limitations of...

Tanja MillerIt has become a common trope to describe the current movement of people towards safety in Europe or other places as the biggest such movement since WW II. It thus seems pertinent to remember one of the poignant journeys of that time, the flight of German...

Roger MacgintyI have been experimenting this semester by holding walking meetings with students rather than meetings in my office. I was inspired by listening to a talk given by John Paul Lederach albeit he has the advantage of the beautiful Notre Dame campus for his...