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Dr. Isabelle Desportes

(c) Desportes

Institute of Geographical Sciences

Disaster Research Unit (DRU)

Research Associate

BMBF-Project: “Tsunami Risk : Multi-Risk Assessment and Cascade Effect Analysis in Cooperation between Indonesia and Germany – Collaborative Research on Vulcano- and Landslide-Induced Tsunamis”

Address
Carl-Heinrich-Becker-Weg 6-10
Room 026
12165 Berlin

Academic and Non-Academic Positions

  • Since April 2021: Research Associate in the BMBF-funded research project ‘Tsunami Risk’ with a focus on disaster risk knowledge cultures and practices in Indonesia, at the Disaster Research Unit
  • 2016-2020: Doctoral Researcher then Research Associate in the ‘When Disaster meets Conflict’ research project funded by the Dutch Research Council, at the International Institute of Social Studies, Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam
  • 2015-2016: Project Manager (COP21), International Federation of the Red Cross Red Crescent, Geneva
  • 2015: Project Coordinator, Coalition Climat 21 and Alternatiba Strasbourg
  • 2014-2015: Consultant, Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre, Addis Ababa
  • 2014-2015: Researcher in Ethiopia for the NGO-alliance ‚Partners for Resilence’, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen
  • 2012-2014: Student Assistant, Universiteit van Amsterdam
  • 2013: Intern, Department of Environmental Resource Management, City of Cape Town
  • 2011: Intern, UNDP Regional Centre for Europe and Central Asia, Bratislava
  • 2010: Intern, Max Havelaar France, Paris

 

Education

  • 2016-2020: PhD, ISS, Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam
  • 2012-2014: M. Sc. Research Master International Development Studies (cum laude), Universiteit van Amsterdam
  • 2013: Study and research stay in South Africa, University of Cape Town
  • 2008-2011: B.Sc. Geography, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München

 

Memberships

  • Civic Innovation Research Group at the International Institute of Social Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam
  • IHSA – International Humanitarian Studies Association
  • EADI – European Association of Development Institutes
  • Les Afriques dans le Monde (LAM), Institut d’Études Politiques de Bordeaux

 

Reviews

  • Die Friedens-Warte - Journal of International Peace and Organization
  • Les Cahiers d´Outre-Mer
  • Development and Change
  • Disaster Prevention and Management
  • International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction
  • Journal of Disaster Risk Studies: Jamba
  • Journal of International Humanitarian Action
  • South African Geographical Journal
  • Disasters - Master thesis evaluation for the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa

  • WS and SS 2022/2023 Research Master supervision, MA Disaster Risk Management, School of Environmental Studies, Universitas Indonesia, Jakarta
  • WS and SS 2022/2023 Research Master supervision, Geografische Entwicklungsforschung, Freie Universität Berlin
  • SS 2022 ‘Katastrophen und Konflit’. Gastvortrag im Seminar ‚Politische Ökologie‘, Bachelor Sozial- und Kulturanthropologie, Freie Universität Berlin
  • SS 2018/2019 ‘The Humanitarian Theatre in Ethiopia – Analysing Discourses of the Disaster-Conflict Nexus’. Gastvorträge im Seminar ‘Violent Conflict and the Politics of Media Representation’, Master in Development Studies, International Institute of Social Studies, Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam
  • WS 2017/2018 Research Master supervision, Universiteit van Amsterdam
  • WS 2013-2014, ‘Participatory Research Methods’, ‘Geographical Information Systems’. Gastvorträge und Tutorat im Seminar ‘Fieldwork Methods’, Faculty of Geography, Universiteit van Amsterdam

Research interests

  • Disaster research from a social science perspective: Disaster risk creation, disaster cultures and disaster risk reduction
  • Humanitarian aid and its de·politicization
  • Resilience and climate change adaptation
  • Conflict studies and civil society mobilization

Academic papers (peer-reviewed)

  • Desportes, Isabelle (2023): Craindre le politique: la réponse humanitaire aux catastrophes dites « naturelles » en Birmanie (2015), Éthiopie (2016) et au Zimbabwe (2016-2019). Cahiers d’Outre Mer, Vol. 75 n°286, pp. 335-371.

  • Corbet, Alice; Desportes, Isabelle (2023): Intro au numéro spécial. Politique de l’humanitaire, humanitaire politique? Cahiers d’Outre Mer, Vol. 75 n°286, pp. 313-328.

  • Desportes, Isabelle; Moyo-Nyoni, Ntombizakhe (2021): Depoliticising disaster response in a politically saturated context: the case of the 2016–2019 droughts in Zimbabwe. Disasters, 46(4), pp.1098-1120. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/disa.12516.

 

Part of book – chapter (peer-reviewed)

  • Hilhorst, Dorothea; Mena Fluhmann, Rodrigo; van Voorst, Roanne; Desportes, Isabelle; Melis, Samantha (2019): Humanitarian Aid and Disaster Response in Different Conflict Scenarios.Opens external. In: Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction (GAR) 2019. Geneva: United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR). Available online at https://www.preventionweb.net/publications/view/65903.

 

Blogs and op-ed

 

Working papers and research briefs

  • Hilhorst, Dorothea; Vervest, Marie-José; Desportes, Isabelle; Melis, Samantha; Mena, Rodrigo; van Voorst, Roanne (2021): Strengthening community resilience in conflict. The Hague: Partners for Resilience. Available online at https://library.partnersforresilience.nl/pages/view.php?ref=525&k=.

  • Desportes, Isabelle (2020): Politics of disaster response in authoritarian low-intensity conflict settings. ISS Research brief. The Hague: International Insitute of Social Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam. Available online at https://www.iss.nl/en/media/2021-01-lic-brief-final.

  • Hilhorst, Dorothea; Desportes, Isabelle; Melis, Samantha; Mena, Rodrigo; van Voorst, Roanne (2020): When Disaster Meets Conflict: A scenario-based approach to the politics of disaster governance in conflict settings. ISS Research brief. The Hague: International Institute of Social Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam. Available online at https://www.iss.nl/en/media/2020-12-research-brief-lessons-disaster-governance-and-humanitarian-action.

  • Hilhorst, Dorothea; Vervest, Marie-José; Desportes, Isabelle; Melis, Samantha; Mena, Rodrigo; van Voorst, Roanne (2020): Strengthening community resilience in conflict: learnings from the Partners for Resilience programme.Opens external. ISS Working Papers - General Series, no 666. The Hague: International Institute of Social Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam. Available online at http://hdl.handle.net/1765/131291.

  • Desportes, Isabelle (2019): Myanmar: The controversial issue of minorities in responding to cyclone Komen in 2015. ISS Research brief. The Hague: International Institute of Social Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam. Available online at https://www.iss.nl/en/media/2019-04-cyclone-komen-response-myanmar.

  • Desportes, Isabelle (2019): Ethiopia: Responding to the 2016 drought amid political protest and a state of emergency. ISS Research brief. The Hague: International Institute of Social Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam. Available online at https://www.iss.nl/en/media/2019-04-drought-response-ethiopia.

  • Desportes, Isabelle (2015): Partners for Resilience in Ethiopia, Country Case for the Qualitative Process and Impact Study. Groningen: University of Groningen.

 

Other