Academic staff

Omer is a transdisciplinary scholar of disaster and conflict, interested in how people imagine and claim their worlds in the wake of colonial rule and environmental ruin while in the shadows of empire. Questioning disciplinary norms within disaster studies and the carceral logics of South Asia, he explores these ideas in the mountain borderlands of the disputed territory of Kashmir and its continuity with Northern Pakistan. Omer works alongside international development, humanitarian, and human rights organizations, linking research with policy, practice, and activism.

Sabah is an interdisciplinary global health researcher committed to social justice. Her research topics include preparedness and response to public health emergencies, labour exploitation and migrant workers' health, and palliative care. She was a postdoctoral researcher at King's College London in global health palliative care within R4HC-MENA. She co-founded organisations aiming at empowering and supporting women and 'minorities' in science and academia and is a trustee for an NGO in global health and development.

Antoine Burgard is a senior lecturer in contemporary history of humanitarianism. He holds a PhD from Université Lyon 2 and Université du Québec A Montréal. Previously a postdoctoral fellow of the Fondation pour la Mémoire de la Shoah in Paris and the Fondation Claude Levy in Strasbourg, he is currently leading a ESRC New Investigator award (2025-2028) on age and border policing ('Who is a child? Determining age in British and French border policing, 1918 to the present'). His research and supervision interests broadly include children and young people in situations of conflict and displacement, history of migration and border policing, and genocides.

Nimesh's research concerns the interplay between disasters, development and democratic politics with a particular attention to the possibilities and challenges facing participatory and accountability initiatives in disaster contexts. He is currently examining the role of youth led activism in constructing alternative narratives of care, accountability and justice for labour migrants impacted by the Covid19 pandemic in Nepal. His PhD research (from LSE) used ethnographic and interview data to examine the politics of citizen centric governance following the 2015 Nepal earthquakes.

Larissa is Professor of Humanitarian and Conflict Studies. She is a scholar and practitioner with over two decades of experience at the intersection of research, policy, and practice related to humanitarianism, conflict, and peacebuilding. Her research examines the causes of and responses to violence against conflict interveners, such as aid workers and peacebuilders, the role of data and technology in humanitarian settings, and ways to make intervention more effective, ethical, and responsive to local needs and context.

Ayham holds a PhD in business and management, MSc in management for business excellence, and BSc in agriculture engineering. In his PhD project, he supported two UK case studies in evaluating and overcoming the operational challenges associated with engaging spontaneous volunteers during emergencies. Ayham has diverse experience including quality management, HR, and change management in the non-for-profit and commercial sector.

Jessica's teaching centres on histories of humanitarianism and war and conflict with a focus on displacement. Her current research interests lie in the historical sociology of camp formation. This traces the concepts and themes which underpin modern forms of incarceration such as refugee camps and linkages to the camps of the past. She is also interested in the pedagogy of humanitarianism examining how we teach difficult subjects related to violence conflict and displacement. In particular she's researching the value of student research visits to conflict affected societies.

Kirsten undertook her role in HCRI in January 2014. Prior to this, she was a Teaching Fellow in International Development at the Global Development at the University of Manchester. Kirsten completed her PhD in 2012, analysing the causes of post-war violence and crime in El Salvador. Her current research builds on from her PhD by examining urban violence and its humanitarian consequences.

Rubina's areas of interest are anthropology of violence and reconstruction, medical anthropology with a special focus on social suffering and mental illness, and the study of lived Islam in South Asia and the UK. Her doctoral work examined moral and material 'reconstruction' of life after an episode of ethnic violence in Gujarat, Western India in 2002.

Luke is a Research Associate at HCRI working on the Evidence and Knowledge for Development (K4D) programme. He received a PhD in history in 2013 from the University of Manchester, where he later worked as a research associate and lecturer. He has published research on the history of British humanitarianism.

Dr. Luis A. Martinez-Juarez is a global health expert and physician with over a decade of experience in public health leadership, specializing in health equity and humanitarian response. He holds a DrPH from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and an MPH from the University of Liverpool. Currently a Research Affiliate at The Johns Hopkins Center for Humanitarian Health, The Center for Global Health Equity at the University of Michigan, and a Lecturer in Global Health at the University of Manchester, he is also the Honorary Director of the Chapter on Digital Health and Artificial Intelligence Applied to Health at The Mexican Society of Public Health. Dr. Martinez-Juarez has contributed to international health strategies, including COVID-19 response efforts, and represented civil society at the United Nations. His extensive publication record focuses on health equity, COVID-19, and global health policy.

Previously, Patrick was an Assistant Professor in Global Sustainable Development at the University of Warwick and a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at SOAS University of London. His research explores the political economy of violence, conflict, and development, primarily focusing on Southeast Asia, specifically Myanmar’s borderlands with China, India, and Thailand. He has also conducted work for the UK Government, the World Bank, The Asia Foundation, UNRISD, Conciliation Resources, and NIS, focusing on conflict resolution and peacebuilding.

Patience holds a PhD in Health Sciences from the University of Leeds and is a clinical academic actively registered with an Emergency Medical Team roster. She led the development of a low-cost emergency call-and-dispatch system (EmCAD) during the COVID-19 pandemic in Uganda. Her research uses AI and digital interventions to enhance healthcare access for high-risk and underserved individuals. She is working on improving mental health and psychosocial support for marginalized populations in sub-Saharan Africa.

Nat's research concerns how technological innovation affects security practices. His past research examined the development of risk governance and information-sharing protocols in UK emergency response. He is currently probing a new emergency infrastructure that's accruing with government emphasis on smart technologies. For Nat, these technologies and practices are important for understanding how security operates in our time; showing as they do how global futures are imagined, how governments consider the wider environment around them and how we as citizens figure as subjects of power.

Kristina's focus is on both academic and policy-oriented research, specializing in understanding how interventions shape and are shaped by local contexts, particularly within the realm of everyday economic interactions. She draws on prior research experience with the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), World Food Programme (WFP), Danish Refugee Council (DRC) and German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ). Her PhD explores the implications of humanitarian cash and voucher assistance on host-refugee relations in Lebanon.