This Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF)-funded project examines how digital humanitarianism is emerging as a field of knowledge, a community of practice, and an arena of experimentation. It focuses on partnerships between humanitarian organizations, private corporations, and scientific institutions.
Over the past decade, growing demands for accountability, efficiency, and crisis anticipation in the humanitarian sector have led aid organizations to adopt data-driven governance and invest in various digital technologies—ranging from virtual reality and AI to algorithms and automated facial recognition.
This project moves beyond evaluating the technical impact of digital tools in humanitarian action. Instead, it critically examines:
- What digital technologies do to humanitarianism as a field.
- The assemblages of actors involved in “innovation hubs,” including private sector, philanthropy, and science communities.
- The entanglements of capitalist, solutionist, and audit logics shaping “tech for good” collaborations.
The project asks:
- What conceptions of humanity and regimes of living are created at the intersection of philanthro-capitalism and digital humanitarianism?
- How does scientific knowledge and corporate practice shape humanitarian action?
- How does humanitarianism, in turn, shape these fields?
By understanding digital innovations as a new mode of governing vulnerable populations at a distance, the project seeks to:
- Uncover how humanitarian action relies on scientific and corporate knowledge.
- Examine the full design cycle of digital technologies—from ideation to prototyping to testing.
Methodology
The project combines anthropological theory, ethnographic inquiry, and Science and Technology Studies (STS) approaches. It investigates the local logics, knowledge, and practices that inform digital humanitarianism across different global sites.
Research Sites
- Stanford University and Silicon Valley tech-philanthropies (USA)
- EPFL (Polytechnic School) in Switzerland
- Refugee settlements in Uganda
- Refugee settlements in Jordan
These sites represent key hubs of humanitarian innovation with diverse structures, ecosystems, and relationships to political and economic contexts.
Key Contributions
This project is the first in anthropology to focus specifically on digital humanitarianism as a field. It aims to:
- Advance theoretical debates on technological innovation and its ethical, political, and social dimensions.
- Generate new empirical and theoretical insights into how digital technologies shape human-more-than-human relations in the context of global climate change, protracted crises, and shrinking resources.
- Open dialogue in international policy circles on the implications of digital humanitarianism.
Timeline
September 2025 – August 2029
PhD Researcher position available
Deadline to apply: 2 June 2025
For further information or application please see program’s website.
