I am a historian, writer and editor based in Paris. I work on activism and aid, how people understand their responsibilities and engagements, and the role of memories and other manifestations of the past. Much of my research has looked at humanitarianism: action during emergency and the ideas that underpin it.
My book Idealism beyond Borders: The French Revolutionary Left and the Rise of Humanitarianism, 1954-1988 was joint recipient of the International Studies Association’s Ethics Section book prize in 2017. Amongst other things, it tells of the origins and early years of the French medical humanitarian association Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders), an organisation I’ve also studied from the inside. In other works – both academic and policy-oriented ones – I’ve explored the influence of the politics of decolonisation on ideas about humanitarianism, human rights, and the laws of war. With support from the Independent Social Research Foundation, I am currently writing a book about the implications of humanitarian work in refugee detention.
I was Research Editor at Humanitarian Advisory Group from 2020-2023 and have researched and taught humanitarian affairs at the Overseas Development Institute and the Humanitarian and Conflict Response Institute at the University of Manchester. At present I am an Honorary Fellow of Australian Catholic University, Melbourne, and a visiting fellow of the Graduate Institute, Geneva. In 2016 I received the Fondation Croix-Rouge Française Prix de Recherche. I hold a PhD in history from Queen Mary, University of London, and a BA(Hons) from The University of Melbourne.
