prof.dr.ir. DJM (Thea) Hilhorst

Biography

I am an expert in development in areas affected by disaster, conflict or fragility, with a special focus on aid-society relations: the impact of humanitarian aid on society and the ways in which people and institutions shape the organisation of aid relations.

I have supervised 30 PhD candidates, and 21 of these  have been completed. In my current position, I am directing a research programme around situations where conflicts meet disaster.

My research programmes have taken place in settings affected by disaster, conflict and fragility, including Afghanistan, Angola, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, the Philippines, Rwanda, South Sudan, and Sri Lanka.

Currently, my main research programme concerns where “Conflict meets disaster’, that studies disaster governance in high-conflict, low-conflict and post-conflict societies.

In addition to my academic research, I maintain a portfolio for applied assignments and advisory work, which has enhanced an intimate knowledge base of international organisational processes and local dynamics of aid-state-society interaction. I am president of the International Humanitarian Studies Association and a board member of the Core Humanitarian Standard Alliance

I have published 6 books, 46 journal articles, 34 book chapters and 44 professional publications, and I am a regular blogger.

Keywords: Humanitarian Aid, Disaster Governance, Gender, Development, Refugee Studies