The panels that are submitted to the 2025 conference will be reviewed by the following people:
Susanne Jaspars
Susanne Jaspars is a Research Associate at the Food Studies Centre, SOAS, University of London. She recently completed PhD in Politics at the University of Bristol on the history and politics of food aid in Sudan, which she converted into a book published in 2018 (Food Aid in Sudan: A History of Power, Politics and Profit. Zed Books). She previously completed an MSc in Human Nutrition (in 1986). Susanne has worked in humanitarian crises for thirty years, as practitioner and researcher. As a practitioner she worked for Medecins sans Frontieres (Holland), Oxfam-GB, UNHCR, WFP and others, and used this experience to inform her research. Prior to starting her PhD, Susanne worked as a Senior Research Fellow in the Humanitarian Policy Group at the Overseas Development Institute in London. Her research focuses on the social and political dynamics of food security, livelihoods and nutrition in situations of famine, conflict and disasters, and more recently on the humanitarian dimension of migration to Europe. Susanne has published a number of books, academic articles and policy reports, and is on the editorial board of Disasters journal.
Andrew Cunningham
Andrew has thirty years’ experience in the humanitarian sector, twenty-five years of which with MSF. Andrew has worked in a wide variety of contexts and geographical locations in Africa, the Former Soviet Union, and Asia. He has a PhD in War Studies from King’s College and has published a professional book in the Routledge Humanitarian Studies series on the topic of INGO-State relations. Andrew has served as a member of the Board of MSF International and is currently a board member of the International Humanitarian Studies Association. Andrew works as a researcher, strategic and operational evaluator, and governance advisor for various humanitarian organisations.
Maryam Zarnegar Deloffre
Maryam Zarnegar Deloffre Ph.D., is Associate Professor of International Affairs and Director of the Humanitarian Action Initiative, at the George Washington University (Washington D.C.), and Associate Senior Fellow at Käte Hamburger Kolleg / Centre for Global Cooperation Research, University of Duisburg-Essen (Germany). Her research and publications are on the governance and coordination of humanitarian action—with focus on quality and accountability standard-setting, humanitarian-health emergencies and localization—and on non-governmental organizations (NGOs). She teaches graduate level courses on humanitarian governance and policy, localization, and NGOs and provides policy guidance to government agencies, think tanks and NGOs. In addition to serving on the IHSA board, she also serves on the editorial board of Global Studies Quarterly, a journal of the International Studies Association (ISA), and on the ISA Committee on the Status of Women.
Nazanin Zadeh Cummings
Nazanin Zadeh-Cummings is an Assistant Professor of International Relations and Humanitarian Action at the University of Groningen. Previously, she worked as the Associate Director of Research/Senior Lecturer in Humanitarian Studies at the Centre for Humanitarian Leadership at Deakin University. Nazanin has taught humanitarian courses at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels, and is a graduate of the Network On Humanitarian Action (NOHA) Master’s of International Humanitarian Action. She also holds a PhD in Asian and International Studies from the City University of Hong Kong, and an MA (Hons) in International Relations from the University of Edinburgh. Nazanin’s research interests include humanitarian pedagogy, North Korea, civil society, and humanitarian access.
Juan Ricardo Aparicio
Juan Ricardo Aparicio is an associate Professor of the Department of Languages and Culture at the Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá, Colombia. With a PhD in anthropology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, his research interest are humanitarian governance, internally dislaced persons, development, social movements, the State and the posconflict scenarios. He is an etnnographer with a theoretical background on Latin American and Caribbean critical thought. He was Visiting Fellow at the Humanitarian Studies Centre at the Institute of Social Studies at the University of Rotterdam during August 2023-2024, Board member of the International Association of Humantarian Studies for the period 2023-2025 and current member of the editorial boards of both Cultural Studies and Public Anthropologist journals. His most recent publications are the article co-written with Laura Macías) “Hurricanes, reconstruction, and resistance: thinking through vulnerability in the Caribbean” for the journal Disasters (2025, 49:1) and the chapter “Ruptures and contingencies in a bottom-up humanitarian assemblage: a history of peasants, territories, and displacement in Colombia” in Depoliticizing Humanitarian Action. Paradigms, Dilemmas, Resistance (2024) coedited by Isabelle Deportes, Alice Corbet, Ayesha Siddiqi and published by Routledge.
Patrick Milabyo
Patrick Milabyo Kyamusugulwa is Professor at the Institut Supérieur des Techniques Médicales de Bukavu, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). He is member of the DRC Humanitrian Observatory and member of the Social Science Centre for African Development-KUTAFITI. His expertise and work are on community-driven reconstruction, particularly on community development, reconstruction, local governance, social accountability, power, gender and sustainability in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
Vladislav Kavaleuski
Uladzislau (Vlad) Kavaleuski is the Research and Knowledge Management Program Manager at the GDPC, an IFRC reference center hosted by the American Red Cross that GDPC provides research, innovation, and coordination expertise to the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement and the broader humanitarian sector. Vlad has worked with various humanitarian and development organizations, including IFRC, the World Bank, and UNDP, at both national and international levels, with a focus on knowledge production and promoting the use of research and evidence in practice. At the GDPC, he leads research initiatives such as the small research grants program supporting researchers in low- and middle-income countries, knowledge management program, and engagement with academic partners and networks.
Carla Vitantonio
Carla Vitantonio is a humanitarian and development professional, author, researcher, performer. As a researcher, her long-term interests are rooted in coloniality within the aid industry. She looks at how practices stemming from the Majority world can bring seeds of decoloniality in the sector, and at the possibility of supporting a decolonial perspective in policies and practices. Her recent work on the topic is a podcast called “Living decoloniality”, produced in partnership with the Centre for Humanitarian Leadership. As a humanitarian and development worker, she deals with extreme and forgotten crisis, armed groups, fragile states. She worked for 4 years in North Korea, 2 years in the contented areas of Myanmar, and 5 years in Cuba. Disaster Risk Reduction, Humanitarian Protection and Migration/Forced displacement are her core areas of interest. As a performer, her research pivots around the idea of performance as a space for reflexivity, and of the performer’s body as mirror and agent of their multiple identities. In 2022 she was awarded the honor of Cavaliere dell’Ordine della Stella d’Italia by the President of the Republic of Italy, for her activity as a humanitarian and as an author. She is also a member of the board of the International Humanitarian Studies Association (IHSA).
Selman Kesgin
Selman Salim Kesgin is a researcher specializing in humanitarian action and holds a PhD in migration studies. He has conducted research projects and published articles, book chapters, and opinion pieces, focusing on migration, humanitarian action, volunteering, and disaster studies.
He has worked as a visiting researcher at Oxford University, the Social Sciences University of Ankara, and Ankara Yıldırım Beyazıt University. He has been working as research&partnerships coordinator at Turkish Red Crescent Academy.
Mehmet Fatih Aysan
Mehmet Fatih Aysan is a Professor of Sociology at Marmara University and the director of Center for Population and Social Policies. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Western Ontario (2011) and taught Sociology in the same university (2010-2012). His sociological interests are rooted at the intersection of demography, family, sociology of work, and social policy. His study centers on how demographic changes, labour markets, and social policies combine to influence the welfare of societies. His research projects were supported by the EU, IDRC, TUBA, and TUBITAK. Dr. Aysan’s work appeared in edited books and peer-reviewed journals such as Routledge, Palgrave, Springer, Population & Development Review, Canadian Journal of Sociology, Emerging Markets & Finance.
Nuri Tınaz
Nuri Tınaz is a professor of Sociology at Marmara University, specializing in sociology with a particular focus on religion, migration, and cultural studies. He has conducted extensive research on religious movements, diaspora communities, and intercultural interactions, contributing significantly to the field with his publications and academic engagements. His work bridges the disciplines of sociology, politics, and history, offering valuable insights into contemporary societal dynamics.
Melih Çoban
Melih Çoban earned his PhD in the Political Science and Social Sciences program at Marmara University in 2010. Since 2002, he has been working in the Department of Sociology at Marmara University, with his main academic interests including political sociology, sociology of cinema, political history, social violence, and addiction.