EU humanitarian aid and EU-UN relations: between LSE and IBEI

Submitted by Maastricht University on Fri, 11/01/2019 - 13:24

Currently, in the third year of a PhD at the London School of Economics (LSE), Irene Morlino is working on a thesis aiming at empirically investigating the effectiveness of EU humanitarian aid, thus assessing the influence that the EU has in the international arena. Based on case studies, the research aims at filling the gap in EU foreign policy literature which lacks an extensive empirical study on the concrete implementation and effectiveness of EU policies. The thesis focuses on an understudied sector of EU foreign policy, often associated with EU development policy, that is EU humanitarian aid. This sector is becoming increasingly important due to the rise of natural and man-made disasters following climate change and wars. In this context, the EU is committed to providing humanitarian aid to people affected by crises and it is one of the top humanitarian aid donors worldwide. Besides the thesis, Irene is also working on a paper that aims at empirically assessing the role of the EU vis-à-vis the UN in humanitarian aid, particularly in food assistance in countries such as Chad and Ethiopia.

The residency at Institut d’Estudis Internacionals de Barcelona (IBEI) thanks to the NORTIA bursary is an important step for her academic career and personal development. At IBEI, Irene is having the opportunity to share her work with brilliant academics and PhD students who are contributing to her research. Indeed, thanks to valuable inputs and comments received during the stay, especially by Dr Robert Kissack, Irene re-thought her thesis’ case studies, thus determining the future fieldwork and research and is also currently re-elaborating her paper on EU-UN relations. The stay is also an opportunity to further develop her network and knowledge, getting to know the inspiring work that both experienced and young academics are conducting at IBEI. In sum, the NORTIA stay is proving to be crucial for Irene’s research and work.