Digital Humanitarianism: Kick-off workshop

9-10 February 2026

(On invitation only)

Technological innovation has become a dominant cultural value of the 20th century significantly shaping contemporary solutions to complex socioeconomic problems. Humanitarian organizations have not been immune to this development, even though it is only since the 2000s, with escalating crises and diminishing resources, that “innovation” has become a central policy concern of the aid sector. The term “innovation” captures a diversity of technological creations meant to improve the efficiency of humanitarian responses. From digital wallets created by the UNHCR to facilitate cash transfers to refugees, telemedicine connecting remote medical teams to experts when confronted with cases that go beyond their immediate capacity, or the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap conceived to enable disaster mapping through crowd-sourced data, humanitarian organizations have enthusiastically embraced the technological revolution as a solution – and even a cure – to previous systematic failures. This increasing reliance on digital technologies in humanitarian practice invites critical scholarly attention. This workshop marks the beginning of the SNSF research project, Digital Humanitarianism: Governing Vulnerable Populations in an Age of Technological Innovation. Bringing together scholars working on issues of humanitarianism and technology to share and discuss key insights from their work, we seek to understand what digital technologies do to humanitarianism. Less concerned with the potentials of technical innovations for improving humanitarian governance, we ask critical questions about their ethical and political implications and the regimes of living they foster.

More information on the programme here.