Meetup 31

Can disaster response ever be neutral?

This virtual meetup hosted by the Brocher Foundation, will bring together practitioners and scholars to reflect on the role of disaster response teams. Often positioned as central figures in the aftermath of floods, fires, and other crises, these teams navigate ethical dilemmas that are rarely brought into open discussion, including questions of responsibility, representation, and the unintended consequences of intervention. This meetup will explore how disaster response teams shape both immediate outcomes and longer-term recovery. Drawing on ethnographic and field-based perspectives, we will consider how moments of urgency create tensions between technical demands, emotional care, and political accountability. Together, we ask how attention to these dilemmas can unsettle common assumptions about neutrality and reveal the social and moral stakes of disaster work. The meetup aims to open space for dialogue across disciplines and experiences, contributing to broader debates on ethics, responsibility, and care in times of crisis.

Tuesday May 19 2026, 3PM Geneva Time

• Chair: Sally Davies, writer and editor
• Emily Ragus (e.g.ragus@uva.nl)

Emily Ragus

Ph.D. Candidate in Anthropology at the University of Amsterdam

Sir John Monash Scholar

• Kees Boersma (f.k.boersma@vu.nl)

Kees Boersma

Associate Professor in the Department of Organization Sciences of the Faculty of Social Sciences of the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

• Ilan Kelman (i.kelman@ucl.ac.uk)

Ilan Kelman

Professor of Disasters and Health,  Inst for Risk & Disaster Reduction, University College London