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.

• Desportes, Isabelle; Hilhorst, Dorothea (2020): Disaster governance in conflict-affected authoritarian contexts: The cases of Ethiopia, Myanmar and Zimbabwe. Politics and Governance, 8(4), pp. 343-354. Available online at https://www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandgovernance/article/view/3127.

• Desportes, Isabelle (2019): Getting relief to marginalised minorities: The response to cyclone Komen in 2015 in Myanmar. International Journal of Humanitarian Action, 4(7), pp. 1-16. Available online at https://jhumanitarianaction.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s41018-019-0053-z.

• Desportes, Isabelle; Mandefro, Hone; Hilhorst, Dorothea (2019): The humanitarian theatre: Drought response during Ethiopia's low-intensity conflict of 2016. The Journal of Modern African Studies, 57(1), pp. 31-59. Available online at https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-modern-african-studies/article/humanitarian-theatre-drought-response-during-ethiopias-lowintensity-conflict-of-2016/AA45003D9410B321640B51546A5D6BE4.

• Kuipers, Erin H.C.; Desportes, Isabelle; Hordijk, Michaela (2019): Of locals and insiders: A ‘localized’ humanitarian response to the 2017 Mocoa mudslide in Colombia? Disaster Prevention and Management, 29(3), pp. 352-364. Available online at https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/DPM-12-2018-0384/full/html.

• Hilhorst, Dorothea; Desportes, Isabelle; de Miliano, Cecile (2019): Humanitarian governance and resilience building: Ethiopia in comparative perspective. Disasters, 43, pp. 109-131.

• Desportes, Isabelle; Colenbrander, Darryl R. (2016): Navigating interests, navigating knowledge: Towards an inclusive set-back delineation along Cape Town’s coastline. Habitat International, 54(2), pp. 124-135. Available online at https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0197397515303143.

• Desportes, Isabelle; Waddell, Joy; Hordijk, Michaela (2015): Improving flood risk governance through multi -stakeholder collaboration: A case study of Sweet Home informal settlement, Cape Town. South African Geographical Journal, 98(1), pp. 61-83. Available online at https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03736245.2015.1052842.

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

• Desportes, Isabelle (2020): Disaster response: Why democracy matters. (blog). European Association of Development Institutes Blog – Debating Development Research. Available online at http://www.developmentresearch.eu/?p=743.

• Desportes, Isabelle (2020): Another top priority in times of crisis: Keep democratic life up and running. (blog). blISS - The ISS Blog on Global Development and Social Justice. Available online at https://issblog.nl/2020/03/26/covid-19-another-top-priority-in-times-of-crisis-keep-democratic-life-up-and-running-by-isabelle-desportes/.

• Hilhorst, Dorothea; Desportes, Isabelle (2019): Counter-terrorism laws are undermining humanitarian relief, and are set to get worse today. (blog).Oxfam Blogs. Available online at https://www.globalpolicyjournal.com/blog/13/11/2019/counter-terrorism-laws-are-undermining-humanitarian-relief-and-are-set-get-worse.

• Hilhorst, Dorothea; Desportes, Isabelle (2019): De anti-terrorisme wet heeft een lelijk neveneffect. (newspaper opinion piece). Trouw. Available online at https://www.trouw.nl/nieuws/de-anti-terrorismewet-heeft-een-lelijk-neveneffect~b7cd5e5c/?referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fduckduckgo.com%2F.

• van Voorst, Roanne; Desportes, Isabelle (2018): (How) should scholars say what humanitarians can't? (blog). blISS - The ISS Blog on Global Development and Social Justice. Available online at https://issblog.nl/2018/05/16/how-should-scholars-say-what-humanitarians-cant-by-roanne-van-voorst-and-isabelle-desportes/.

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

• Desportes, Isabelle (2020): Repression Without Resistance: Disaster Responses in Authoritarian Low-Intensity Conflict Settings. EUR (153 pag.) (The Hague). Prom./coprom.: prof.dr.ir. D.J.M. Hilhorst & R. Van Voorst.

• Desportes, Isabelle (2014): We’ve got to address the underlying causes. A case-study of stakeholders ́ initiatives to increase resilience to flood riskinSweet Home informal settlement, Cape Town. University of Amsterdam (114 pag.). Amsterdam. Supervision : dr. M. Hordijk.