Ongoing PhD Projects in Research Cluster III

Rendering Lives Actionable: Knowledge Production, Humanitarian Governance, and LGBTIQ+ Inclusion in Lebanon

Over the past decade, LGBTIQ+ persons have increasingly been addressed within international humanitarian policy and programming. While this growing recognition has created new possibilities for advocacy and access to support, existing approaches remain limited in responding to the diverse and intersecting forms of marginalisation shaping LGBTIQ+ persons’ lived realities. This raises questions about how complex experiences of marginalisation are translated into recognised forms of knowledge, humanitarian categories, and possibilities for intervention.

This doctoral project examines these processes in the context of humanitarian governance in Lebanon. Focusing on local LGBTIQ+ organisations situated within relations between affected communities, international humanitarian actors, and donors, the project analyses how knowledge about marginalisation is produced, translated, and negotiated within humanitarian systems.

Combining postcolonial feminist perspectives on knowledge production with discourse-theoretical approaches and organisational sociology, the project examines the power relations, meaning-making processes, and organisational dynamics shaping the production and negotiation of humanitarian knowledge. By highlighting the epistemic dimensions of humanitarian governance, the project contributes to debates on localisation and the politics of humanitarian inclusion.

The application of international standards in regional refugee facilities in Germany - Qualitative comparative case study about the accommodation and care of refugees from an organisational perspective

In the summer of 2015, there has been a high increase of refugees coming to Europe and Germany due to the armed conflict in Syria and forced migration and migration from the African and Asian continent. Germany had to deal with a high number of people in need seeking for asylum in Germany. Nine years after this event and upcoming new crises, it is time to observe the handling of this special situation in Germany. This PhD project intents to answer the question about the use of normative, organisational and technical standards in the accommodation and care of refugees in regional refugee shelters in Germany. Furthermore, it seeks to answer which factors do influence the integration of international standards in Germany. International standards like the Sphere Project or the Core Humanitarian Standards are often used by international, humanitarian organisations in the context of refugee relief. The use of international standards in Germany is rather unexplored. Due to a qualitative, comparative case study between organisations which are using international standards in Germany and organisations which are using national standards, this research question should be further explored.

Enhancing capabilities through education: educational and skills development for conflict-displaced Burmese youth in rural and urban Thailand

Both prior to and after the violent 2021 coup in Myanmar, hundreds of thousands of forcibly displaced people have fled Myanmar to Thailand seeking refuge. A large proportion of this population are youth, who are often unable to continue or complete their formal education, are frequently forced into precarious work, and often live without legal status in Thailand. This PhD project applies the Capability Approach to explore and compare the educational and skills development opportunities available to conflict-displaced Burmese youth in rural (Phop Phra), peri-urban (Mae Sot), and urban (Chiang Mai) Thailand. Employing a qualitative, multi-sited case study methodology, the study explores how these opportunities shape the capabilities, functionings, and agency of displaced youth, ultimately influencing their livelihoods and aspirations. By identifying gaps and strengths in existing education and skills development provision, the research aims to inform policy and practice that enhance educational outcomes and empower displaced Burmese youth, contributing to their long-term well-being.

The social (trans-)formation of risk in school meal projects in Greater Bahr el-Ghazal, South Sudan.

Humanitarian risk management is grounded in competing assumptions about the role of local relations. Acceptance strategies seek to reduce risks in humanitarian programming by securing consent, cooperation, and participation from local communities and authorities. Deterrence and protection strategies, by contrast, aim to limit exposure through distancing, control, and defensive measures that reduce interaction or create barriers between humanitarian actors and local counterparts.
Against this backdrop, this PhD study examines how local relations shape project-level risk thresholds in humanitarian action. It conceptualises humanitarian projects as social networks linking humanitarian staff with local actors such as community leaders, teachers, parents, and authorities. Drawing on Social Network Analysis, it conceptualises risk as a form of negative social capital that can circulate, accumulate, or be mitigated through relational ties. The study argues that network structures (such as density, reciprocity, and trust) systematically shape whether local relations amplify or reduce the overall operational risk in a humanitarian project.

This framework is tested through a comparative case study of three school meal projects implemented by different humanitarian organisations in Greater Bahr el Ghazal, South Sudan, allowing for systematic comparison of how variation in relational network structures translates into different risk outcomes.

Panzi's Holistic Model of Care for Survivors of Gender Based Violence in DR Congo: A case study of localisation along the Humanitarian-Development-Peace Nexus

Localisation and the Humanitarian-Development-Peace Nexus (Triple Nexus) have in recent years emerged as major themes across all forms of response in conflict-affected contexts. Against this background, this PhD project uses field research to analyse and understand to which extent Panzi´s model of holistic care for survivors of Gender Based Violence (GBV) in DR Congo contributes to building resilience against GBV along the humanitarian-development-peace nexus. This model of holistic care for survivors of GBV is designed and applied by the General Reference Hospital of Panzi and the Panzi Foundation, which are two closely related local congolese actors.

Armenian Peacebuilding and Power-Sharing in Lebanon (1975-1989)

The study examines the societal place of the Armenian community in the end of Lebanon’s 1975 civil war and the negotiation of a new post-war power-sharing agreement. It does so by analyzing the circumstances that led to the adoption of positive neutrality by the Armenian community. The study highlights the leading principles upon which Armenian political parties articulated their policies in Lebanese internal politics. Theoretically the research tackles the issue of consociationalism as a power-sharing arrangement that provides political and cultural rights to the various sects and communities within the state. It also discusses the problems and challenges associated with power-sharing and consociationalism. Empirically Consociationalism allowed the Armenian community to organize itself in political, economic, and social fields and to preserve autonomy over its internal affairs. Overall, this study’s analytical questions contribute to a broader understanding of the political system in Lebanon. Multi-ethnic systems are generally regarded as rather unstable political structures. By analyzing the role of the Armenian political parties in the drafting of the Taif Agreement and the reform plans they initiated and presented to the Lebanese warring parties to end the internal conflict, the study makes a contribution that also allows conclusions to be drawn that are relevant for other states in the region. The study contends that by adopting the policy of positive neutrality, Armenians contributed to national reconciliation and peacebuilding, and power-sharing to address disputes within divided societies, such as Lebanon. Nevertheless, like any political arrangement, consociationalism has drawbacks. Hence, this research will also discuss the problems and challenges associated with power-sharing and consociationalism. While questions about majority and minority relations have so far tended to be posed to a political system such as the Lebanese one, the study shows opportunities for realizing co-determination and alternatives to the idea of a homogeneous, centralized nation state.

Invisible by Design: Humanitarian Aid Practices and LGBTIQ+ Exclusion in Protracted Crises

This research examines how humanitarian aid systems in Lebanon and Syria include or exclude LGBTIQ+ persons through everyday practices of aid delivery. It critically explores how vulnerability is not only experienced but also produced through institutional decisions, including targeting mechanisms, funding priorities, partnership models, and risk management strategies. Drawing on intersectionality, queer humanitarian scholarship, and critical humanitarian studies, the project analyzes how sexuality and gender become governed within humanitarian responses, and how certain identities and needs are rendered visible, invisible, or conditional. Using a comparative mixed-methods approach combining document analysis, surveys, and interviews, the research connects institutional frameworks to lived experiences of access, exclusion, and resilience. By situating humanitarian practice within broader political and anti-gender dynamics, the study aims to contribute to more inclusive and accountable approaches to protection in protracted crisis settings.