The NCHS Annual Conference for 2022 brought together experts from humanitarian research and practice at the House of Literature (Litteraturhuset) in Bergen, Norway on Friday 4 November. The Conference facilitated debate about the relationship between states, donors, and communities with panelists calling attention to the importance of grassroots actors in humanitarian responses.

We were delighted to have Michael Barnett (University Professor, George Washington University) open the conference with his keynote address titled ‘Humanitarianism in a Post-Liberal Age’, where he discussed the increasing securitisation, criminalisation and marketisation of humanitarianism.

This year the NCHS Annual Lecture was delivered by Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh (Professor, University College London) on boundaries of ideology and politics in humanitarianism, as well as operationalisation of humanitarian actors and refugee responses to displacement in her lecture titled ‘Against the Humanitarian Grain’.

The first panel of the day discussed the role of the UAE, Qatar, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and Islamic Development Bank in humanitarian diplomacy. The next panel shifted focus to humanitarian work in contexts of emergency and war, drawing from examples in Syria and Afghanistan. Key themes explored included the politicisation of aid, sanctions, localisation, communication within the humanitarian community and engagement with local actors.

The NCHS Annual Conference aims to bring together humanitarian practitioners, researchers, policy makers, students and the interested public to exchange research, experiences and knowledge on key issues and challenges in the humanitarian sector.

The NCHS would again like to thank all our presenters and participants for their contributions to a highly successful conference. We plan to make audio recordings of key parts of the program available on the NCHS website soon.

We hope to see you for more NCHS events in the future!