The Humanitarian Studies Centre was set up in 2023 by Professor Thea Hilhorst, following her Spinoza Prize award in 2022. We are an open organisation, committed to continued learning and development of knowledge around Humanitarian Studies from diverse sources and scholars. The HSC functions not only as a place for the creation of knowledge, but also as an engine for the dissemination of this knowledge, looking to connect researchers with Humanitarian, Development, and Peacebuilding practitioners, policy-makers, and professionals.
Hosted at the HSC
KUNO is the knowledge exchange platform for humanitarian organisations in the Netherlands. It facilitates reflection on new developments and existing principles, facilitates learning processes, and reaches out to an audience beyond the humanitarian community for cross-sectoral thought exchange.
IHSA is a network engaged with the study of humanitarian crises caused by disaster, conflict or political instability. It offers a venue where researchers and practitioners can meet and debate their different insights and understanding of humanitarian crises. IHSA also works to provide useful tools and resources for people working within Humanitarian Studies, for example various databases and knowledge banks, as well as providing smaller spaces to discuss specific issues and themes. IHSA has a bi-annual conference, as well as regular (online) roundtables and groups.
The SSRi is an initiative that intends to provide high-quality training for researchers that conduct fieldwork in post-/conflict zones, areas of fragility, or other high-risk areas. Existing HEAT trainings given to humanitarian actors are insufficient for researchers, and there are also researcher-specific risk factors that need special attention. Aside from the training programme for researchers, SSRi also provides a ‘train the trainers’ programme, which allows more people to benefit from high-quality training.
