Humanitarianism in Crisis: New Realities in Practices and Knowledges

Date: 15 – 17 October 2025

Venue: Marmara University, Istanbul

Link: https://conference.ihsa.info

The 8th IHSA 2025 Conference, organized by the Department of Sociology at Marmara University and the Center for Population and Social Research, will be held between 15–17 October, simultaneously across two locations: Marmara University in Istanbul, Türkiye, and the Chr. Michelsen Institute (CMI) in Bergen, Norway.

The multi-day conference at Marmara University will feature both in-person and online paper presentations, roundtable discussions, and keynote speeches, as well as a social program for in-person participants.

The theme of the conference is Humanitarianism in Crisis: New Realities in Practices and Knowledges. The conference will be held between 15–17 October in collaboration with Marmara University, the Global Disaster Preparedness Center, and the Turkish Red Crescent.

You can find the conference themes at the link below.

Link: Conference Panel Themes

IHSA: Mission and Areas of Research

Humanitarian crises caused by conflict, disaster, and political instability are the subject of study across a wide range of disciplines, including international relations, international law, development studies, anthropology, public health, climate and environmental studies, and forced migration studies. In addition, new research groups are emerging that focus especially on conflicts, disasters, and humanitarian action.

The International Humanitarian Studies Association (IHSA) provides a forum for these scholarly communities to engage in dialogue with policy actors, implementing agencies, and reflective practitioners. The Association aims to strengthen the alignment between knowledge, policy, and practice in resolving humanitarian crises.

Humanitarian studies examine how humanitarian crises originate and evolve, how they affect people, institutions, and societies, and the responses they trigger. In this context, the conference’s areas of interest include the following:

Areas of Interest

• Causes, dynamics, and effects of humanitarian crises

• Politics and discourses of humanitarian crises

• Responses to crises: local responses, political, military, and humanitarian interventions

• Humanitarian response policies, programmes, and organisations

• Policies and practices of disaster preparedness and early warning

• Policies and practices of rehabilitation, and linkages with development, peacebuilding, and security

• Legal issues pertaining to humanitarian affairs

• Experiences and lifeworlds of affected communities, refugees, and internally displaced people, and the refugee regimes applied to them