Caring in Crisis? - a BISR colloquium, Sat 7th June.
Birkbeck Institute for Social Research
Saturday 7th June 2014 9.30am – 5pm Room B33, Birkbeck Main Building (Torrington Square)
The frequency and scale of humanitarian disasters is increasing, as are their coverage and global visibility. Whilst still responding generously to humanitarian emergencies, as demonstrated recently by public donations following Typhoon Haiyan, the British public seems to be increasingly critical of and reluctant to commit to on-going support of humanitarian and international development agencies. The humanitarian and development sector is facing continuing pressures and criticisms – the recent Panorama programme being the latest example of the onslaught.
In these highly challenging times for the humanitarian sector and humanitarianism more generally, it seems ever more urgent to understand how the public relates and responds to humanitarian crises and international development causes.
This one-day colloquium will present the finding from a three-year, interdisciplinary and collaborative project funded by the Leverhulme Trust, which investigated responses and moral actions of the British public to information about humanitarian crises and international development.
The presentation of the research findings will be followed by two panels of experts who will comment on the findings from their specific fields of expertise (humanitarian and development NGOs, psychosocial studies and social psychology, media and communications).
The conference will conclude with a keynote talk from Professor Peter Singer.
Main researchers: Dr Bruna Seu (Birkbeck) and Dr Shani Orgad (London School of Economics and Political Science)
Panel speakers: Professor Paul Hoggett (UWE), Professor Mark Levine (University of Exeter), Professor Sonia Livingstone (LSE), Professor Kate Nash (Goldsmiths College), Brendan Paddy (DEC), and Professor Peter Singer (Princeton University).
Registration and payment by credit/debit card are essential - here
Cost: £25 Standard £20 Birkbeck Staff £15 All Students and Unwaged