Biographies of the Editorial board's members
Jean-François Corty is a doctor, anthropologist, and associate researcher at IRIS (Institut de relations internationales et stratégiques). He has been involved in humanitarian action for over twenty years, and worked for eight years with Médecins Sans Frontières, before taking up the position of Director of Operations at Médecins du Monde between 2009 and 2018, where he is now Vice-President. He is the author of several books, including Profession solidaire, chroniques de l’accueil (published in June 2020 by Steinkis/Les Escales), La France qui accueille (published in 2018 by Éditions de l’Atelier) and Pratique et éthique médicales à l’épreuve des politiques sécuritaires (co-edited by Sciences Po Les Presses in 2010).
Clara Egger is Assistant Professor of Global Governance at the Department of Public Administration and Sociology from the Erasmus School of Behavioural and Social Sciences of the Erasmus University Rotterdam. Prior to this, she was Assistant Professor of Globalization Studies and Humanitarian Action at the University of Groningen where she also served as the Director of Studies of the Erasmus Mundus Joint Master’s Degree in International Humanitarian Action (NOHA). She worked as research coordinator for the Centre of Humanitarian Studies Geneva where she led the research aspects of the Humanitarian Encyclopedia project. Clara holds an MA degree in Political Science from Sciences Po Grenoble and a PhD in political science from the University Grenoble Alpes. Her research was awarded the French Red Cross Fund for the best research on humanitarian action and was shortlisted for the ECPR Jean Blondel PhD Prize for the best thesis in politics. She is Editor-in-chief of the Journal of International Humanitarian Action and a member of the Humanitarian Alternatives editorial board.
Director of the H.I Impact, Information & Innovation division. Pierre is agronomist but was keen to enrich his curriculum with complementary training in management (IAE), epidemiology (CESAM) and strategic foresight (CNAM). During his 25-years experience in the humanitarian field, he held many technical (technical coordinator, Head of Knowledge Management division) and operational (geographical manager, mission director) positions for Action Against Hunger, Solidarités International and Humanity & Inclusion. This eclectic experience in humanitarian action has allowed him to better understand the specific constraints of the different positions, but also to underline the importance of cross-sectoral approaches.
Valerie Gorin is a lecturer and researcher since 2011 at the Geneva Centre of Humanitarian Studies, a joint centre of the University of Geneva and the Graduate Institute. Since 2020, she is Head of Learning for the Executive Master programme in humanitarian action. She earned her MA in History in 2004, and her PhD in communication and media sciences at the University of Geneva in 2013. Her doctoral thesis focused on the photojournalistic coverage of humanitarian crises in American and French news magazines from the 1960s to the 1990s. She has since carried out research on the history of aid and humanitarian communication, with a specific focus on the visual culture of aid organisations and advocacy strategies. She also co-edited several publications about the responses to famine (European Review of History, 2015), the representations of the 2014-2016 migration crisis (Journal of Applied Journalism and Media Studies, 2018), as well as the link between emotions and images in humanitarian settings (Palgrave Macmillan, 2021 – to be published).
Vincent Leger is a research officer at the French Red Cross Foundation. PhD in anthropology (University College London) and holder of a Master in demography (IDUP), he is responsible for monitoring and promoting research supported by the Foundation on humanitarian and social action.
Editor-in-chief of Humanitarian Alternatives, he manages and leads its editorial board. After studying law and legal anthropology, Boris Martin became involved in academic research, writing and humanitarian action. He was editor-in-chief of the review Humanitaire at Médecins du Monde from 2000 to 2015. He has published several books on humanitarian action, including La France de la solidarité (Cesno, 2002), Critique de la raison humanitaire (dir. with Karl Blanchet, preface by Rony Brauman), published by Le Cavalier Bleu in 2006 (translated into English by Columbia University Press/Hurst & Co Publishers Ltd in 2011 under the title Many Reasons to Intervene: French and British Approaches to Humanitarian Action) and L’adieu à l’humanitaire. Les ONG au défi de l’offensive néolibérale (Éditions Charles Léopold Mayer, 2015). He is also the author of stories (Chronique d’un monde disparu, 2008 and « C’est de Chine que je t’écris… », 2004) published by Le Seuil and short stories (Hong Kong, un parfum d’éternité, 2010) published by Elytis. His latest story – L’iconoclaste. L’histoire véritable d’Auguste François, consul, photographe, explorateur, misanthrope, incorruptible et ennemi des intrigants – was published in May 2014 by Éditions du Pacifique. In 2020, he wrote the biography of Médecins du Monde, La belle histoire.
Stephanie leads the ACF’s Knowledge LAB project, an innovative pilot project aiming at incubating innovative approaches and methodologies to improve the knowledge management across Action Against Hunger’s international network. Collaborating closely with the research, advocacy, technical and operations department , ACF Knowledge LAB explores ways of effectively connecting knowledge with action in order to improve the way the organisation fights against hunger.
Biographies of the Orientation Council's members
Chairs the Task Force on Emergency and Post-Crisis that brings together leading French NGOs. Was former President, then CEO of MSF, and former Director General of Fondation de France. Currently manages FCHconseil, which supports associations and foundations in the implementation of their strategic plan, and their leaders in the growth and management of their organizations. Publications: Long Live Philanthropy, Social Engagement for Dummies.
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Yvan Conoir, MBA, MA, is Researcher for the Chair Raoul Dandurand in Strategic and Diplomatic Studies of the University of Quebec in Montreal (UQAM) and teaches at the Master in International Development and Humanitarian Action of University Laval (Quebec).
He started his humanitarian career with the United Nations, later for Canadian institutions, more than 30 years ago. He now works as international consultant for the World Bank, the UN (UNHCR, OCHA, UNICEF, UNDP, UNESCO, UN DPKO, UNV), the EU, CIDA, OAS, French, Canadian and Swiss Ministries of International Cooperation and other private entities.
He is the author of various publications “L’action humanitaire du Canada” (PUL-2002), “Faire la paix – concepts et pratiques de la consolidation de la paix” (PUL-2005) and “DDR – Désarmer, démobiliser et réintégrer – Défis humains, Enjeux globaux” (PUL-2006). His latest book which just got released at the Presses de l’Université Laval: “Gestion de projets de développement international et de développement humanitaire” (2016).
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Bruno-Georges David is President and founder of Communication Sans Frontières, creator of the Grand Prix de Communication Solidaire and the Observatoire de Communication Solidaire (OCS). He organizes annual meetings on the topic of public interest communication.
He is Director of Communications and Development at the humanitarian NGO Secours Islamique France, and formerly held this position, at the NGO Action Contre la Faim (ACF-France). He been a member of the Board of Directors of the Comité de la Charte and of Don en Confiance, and a member of the Trade Council of France Générosité.
Bruno-Georges David is in charge of Communications at the Department of Social and Solidarity Economy at l’Ecole des Métiers et de l’Information (EMI) and teaches at the University Paris-Est-Créteil (UPEC-PARIS XII) in the Master’s program of Public Policies through Action Humanitaire International and the Magistère de Communication CELSA – Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences de l’Information et de la Communication Paris-Sorbonne. He is a member of the Steering Committee of the review journal Humanitarian Alternatives, and a member of the Development Committee of the Institut Supérieur d’Economie et de Gestion (ISEG).
Bruno-Georges is co-founder of the humanitarian NGO Noir&Blanc and has been Vice-President of Logistique Médicale Humanitaire, and President and co-founder of the association Un Fauteuil à la Mer.
He has carried out work in communications with groundbreaking agencies, such as Roux-Séguéla-Cayzac et Goudard (RSCG) and Publicis. With the latter agency, he was in charge of launching marketing campaigns throughout Eastern and Western Europe for various trademarks, such as Coca-Cola, where he led operations in Russia, and L’Oréal. In the USA and India he planned the launch of many other products as well. He then joined the McCann-Erickson group where he developed one of the world’s first pioneering communication alternatives on the web. He also founded two consulting agencies in marketing and communication strategy, and then joined the TBWA group as Associate Director to specifically develop the merger between non-profit brands and commercial trademarks through partnerships between multinationals and NGOs.
Bruno-Georges has worked with many companies (Coca-Cola, Nestlé, L’Oréal, Renault, etc.) and with international NGOs, where he has gained valuable expertise in marketing and communications in the business and non-profit sectors both in France and abroad.
He is a graduate of the Diplomatic and Strategic Studies Center − Advanced International Relations, at the Institute for International Management in Wolfesse, The Netherlands, and of the FCB Advanced Advertising Program in Chicago, USA.
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After studying business at the European Business Institute, law at the University of Paris X and working as an advertising executive for seven years, Thierry Mauricet co-founded the association Première Urgence in June 1992 to help the besieged population of Sarajevo in Bosnia-Herzegovina. From 1994 to 2011, he was the association’s CEO.
Since April 2011, he is the CEO of Première Urgence Internationale, an association resulting from the merger of the NGOs Première Urgence and Aide Médicale Internationale.
Première Urgence Internationale aims to provide integrated aid in the fields of health, food security, nutrition, rehabilitation and construction of infrastructure, access to water, hygiene and sanitation, economic recovery, education and protection, for populations affected by humanitarian crises.
Karine Meaux is an International aid & Emergencies program manager at the Fondation de France since September 2017. She initiates and coordinates the Fondation’s responses to the major emergencies, such as the Nepalese earthquake of 2015 and the Caribbean typhoons of 2017. She also contributes to various discussions on humanitarian issues. This job also includes a collaboration with the French NGO, CFSI, to promote the family farming in West Africa (Pafao), as well as a partnership with other foundations (Italian and American) to support the farmers’ organizations in the same area.
Previously, Karine practiced several positions in the national coordination of French NGOs, Coordination SUD, where she specifically tried to promote an enabling environment and better working conditions for every kind of international solidarity associations. Her education in humanitarian law, history and languages led her initially, from 2000, to work in different continents within the Caritas network. At the headquarter, as an Asia/Oceania project officer, a Tsunami coordinator and an international action/quality coordinator. On the field, on long term missions, in Kosovo (2000-2001), Sri Lanka (2006-2007) and Chad (2008-2009), mainly in post-emergency contexts, supporting local partners to face the challenges of camp management and local civil society strengthening.
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Virginie has been involved in developmental aid and humanitarianism since her first professional experience with a local NGO in India. After eight years of managing international projects in biotechnology in the private sector in Germany, she shifted her focus towards the humanitarian sector as a volunteer activist for human rights with NGOs and social service organizations.
In 2004, she was put in charge of developing “business” partnerships with bureaus of the Handicap International (HI) network. In 2007, she joined the regional platform of Médecins sans Frontières (MSF) in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, where she headed the fundraising and partnerships department. Upon her return to France in 2011, she resumed her studies in political science. Her research on “image and international aid” led her to accept an assignment with the French Development Agency lasting several months. In 2013, with Jean-François Mattei, she helped in the creation and development of the French Red Cross Fund as General Delegate. Virginie has been appointed Director of the French Red Cross Foundation for humanitarian and social research for 2018.
Virginie holds a Master’s degree in management from ESC Toulouse, a Master’s degree in political science from Panthéon-Sorbonne, and a degree in ethics from the Faculty of Medicine of Aix-Marseille University. She is a researcher and administrator of Handicap International France and a member of the Steering Council of the review journal Humanitarian Alternatives.
Joël Weiler began working in the humanitarian sector in 1992. After graduating from Bioforce, he joined various NGOs, such as Enfants du Monde-Human Rights (EMDH) and Santé Mali Rhône-Alpes (SMARA), as Head of mission in the Darfur, Vietnam, Mali, Burkina Faso, South Sudan, and Madagascar.
After this experience in development and emergency programs, his career with Médecins du Monde began in November 2010 when he joined the association as General Coordinator. He held this a position for three years, during which he covered emergencies in Syria, Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon, and Zimbabwe.
Upon his return to France at the end of 2013, he assumed the position of Crisis Manager and then Deputy Director of International Operations. He has been the Director General of the association since April 1, 2017.
Biographies of the Board of directors' members
President of the Académie nationale de médecine and a member of the Institut de France (Académie des Sciences Morales et Politiques) and former Minister of Health, Professor Jean-François Mattei was a Paediatrician before specialising in genetics. His work has led him to be involved in bioethics and he has gained recognition both in France and abroad for his research. He was President of the French Red Cross from 2004 to 2013, and in 2013 he launched the French Red Cross Endowment Fund (now the Foundation), which he headed from 2013 to 2017. He has been a member of the Institut de France since 2015 (Académie des sciences Morales et Politiques) and was made a Knight of the Legion of Honour in 2004. He is the co-founder of Humanitarian Alternatives.
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He is the General Secretary of the One Sustainable Health for All Foundation, launched in June 2020 under the guardianship of the Bullukian Foundation (Lyon). He has been a member of the Economic, Social and Environmental Council (CESE) since May 2021 and chairs the Bioport association (humanitarian and solidarity logistics) and Earthwake (plastic recycling). He is a member of the think-tank Santé Mondiale 2030, the think-tank (Re) Sources (water and sanitation), the Board of Friendship (Bangladesh) and co-founder of the bilingual review Humanitarian Alternatives. He chaired the French Centre for Funds and Foundations (CFF) (2015-2022) and headed Fondation Mérieux (2007-2017) before becoming Director of Public Health at Institut Mérieux (2018-2020). Honorary Chairman of Action contre la Faim (ACF), an association which he chaired (2010/2013) and directed (2003/2006), after having been Director of the Institut Bioforce (1997/2002). He was a member of the Board of VOICE (European Network of professional humanitarian NGOs).
Co-founder of the NGO Handicap International; administrator of the review journal, Humanitarian Alternatives; founding member of the organization, United Against Inhumanity (UAI).
Her commitment in the social non-profit sector began in Chile with the CONIN Foundation, which works in favour of child nutrition in disadvantaged and precarious sectors.
Some time after her arrival in France as a political refugee and settling in Lyon, it was quite natural for her to become involved alongside the founders of Handicap International, as head of accounting and financial management and then Director of Finance. Maria will work for Handicap International for 30 years until her retirement in 2017.
Holder in Chile of diplomas in Accountancy and Commercial Engineering, completed by a Master’s Degree in Economics and a DESS in Management Information Technology in France, she has put her skills and motivation to work in humanitarian action for the benefit of the most disadvantaged.
Her long experience in this sector has enabled her to understand the challenges and constraints of financial management of international solidarity organisations, a management that is torn between the search for efficiency demanded by funders and supervisory bodies, and on the other hand, action in the field at the service of the most underprivileged in countries below the poverty line and often in unstable contexts.
Jean-Christophe Rufin is a medical doctor and a writer. Starting with an essay (The Humanitarian Trap – Le Piège humanitaire –, 1986), he went into novel writing with the Abyssinian – L’Abyssin – in 1997, obtained the Goncourt prize in 2001 with Red Brazil – Rouge Brésil – and was elected to the French Academy in 2008. His writings have been translated into numerous languages. He accomplished his first humanitarian mission in Eritrea in 1976 and was, in particular, advisor to the Secretary of State for human rights (1986-1988), Cultural and cooperation Attaché in Brazil (1989-1990), Advisor to the minister of Defence (1993-1994) and French Ambassador to Senegal and Gambia (2007-2010). He has also been Vice-president of Médecins Sans Frontières (1991-1992) and President of Action against Hunger (2003-2006) being today its President of honour. As a member of the Action against Hunger Foundation, he is on the Steering Council of the Humanitarian Alternatives review.
Philippe Ryfman is a specialist in non-governmental and humanitarian issues on the international scene. A barrister at the Paris Bar, he is also an Honorary Professor and Research Fellow at the Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. His latest work, codirected with Sandra Szurek and Marina Eudes, is Droit et pratique de l’action humanitaire (Paris, LGDJ, 2019). He is also a member of the Steering Committee of the review Humanitarian Alternatives.
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Biographies of the Scientific council's members
Director of the International Studies Institute of Montréal since March 2018, François Audet is also a professor at the School of Sciences and Management (ESG) of Quebec University in Montréal (UQAM) and is the Scientific Director of the Canadian Research Institute on Humanitarian Crisis and Action (OCCAH). He holds a doctorate from the National School of Public Administration (ENAP) of Quebec, which focuses on the decisional processes of international humanitarian organisations in accordance with the reinforcement of local capacities. Before embarking on an academic career, François Audet accumulated over fifteen years of experience in the humanitarian aid sector. His research interests focus on new practices in humanitarian relief, the effectiveness of humanitarian action towards refugees, and Canadian policies towards development assistance.
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Sophie Brière is a tenured professor in the Department of Management at the Faculty of Business at Université Laval. She earned a PhD at Quebec’s University of Public Administration (ENAP) and a post-doc at the University of Ottawa’s School of International Development and Global Studies. She is now the director of Institut EDI2 (equity, diversity, inclusion, intersection) at Université Laval. Sophie Brière is in charge of the Master’s programme in International Development and Humanitarian Action at the Faculty of Business Administration. Her classes and research focus primarily on equity, diversity, and inclusion in organisations in all sectors and in project management. She co-authored with Yves Poulin, Yvan Conoir, Stéphanie Maltais and Isabelle Auclair the book La gestion de projets de développement international et d’action humanitaire (Presses de l’Université Laval, 2nd edition, 2021). She is a member of the Scientific Council of Humanitarian Alternatives.
Yvan Conoir conducts research at the Raoul Dandurand Chair in Strategic and Diplomatic Studies at the University of Quebec in Montreal (UQAM) and teaches in the Master’s program of International Development and Humanitarian Action at Laval University. Formerly a humanitarian working on every continent (UNHCR, UNICEF, CARE International, CECI), he has been engaged in an international consulting career for several years that has led him to conduct missions in more than sixty countries with the UN, the World Bank, the ministries in charge of foreign affairs in Canada and France, CIDA, the Organization of American States, and other private concerns. He is the co-author, with Gérard Verna, first of L’Action humanitaire du Canada (PUL, 2002) that was followed by other works on peacebuilding, the process of DDR (Disarmament, demobilization and reintegration), or the publication Gestion des projets de développement international et d’action humanitaire (PUL, 2016).
Dorothée Lintner is the General Manager of Bioforce. She holds a PhD in modern literature and began her professional career as a research lecturer in literature, first in Paris and then at Oxford. She then joined the private sector as Director of Education at ENGIE’s in-house university. Since the beginning of 2022, she has been running Bioforce, a non-profit organisation that has specialised in training humanitarian workers for 40 years.
Stéphanie Maltais is a doctoral student in International Development at the University of Ottawa and has a Master’s in Management of International Development and Humanitarian Action from Laval University in Quebec. She is a research assistant and teaches in both universities, all while remaining actively involved in Canadian NGOs. Her professional activities, mainly international in scope and focused on the Inuit communities in Northern Canada, led her to study more in depth the transition between humanitarianism and development, the resilience of populations, sustainability, and general health concerns.
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Dana Popescu-Jourdy is a lecturer at the Institute of Communication of the Université Lumière Lyon 2 and Head of the Master’s degree Communication, Humanitarian Aid and Solidarity.
She is a member of the Education, Cultures and Politics laboratory and is interested in the dynamics of public space in transition. Her research themes include the practices and discourses of the media and solidarity actors, as well as new forms of citizenship engagement and learning. She supports the development of action-research and multi-actor collaborative research projects.
She is the coordinator of the European consortium CODES – Communication, Diversity, Solidarity – , and also a member of several networks and research programs at the European and international level: RTV – Key Competences in Media Production for Radio, Film and Television, MEWEB – Media of East/West European border traffic in times of the Cold War, International Joint PhD in Social Representations, Culture and Communication.
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Stéphanie Tchiombiano holds degrees in Political Science and Public Health, and is an associate lecturer at the Political Science Department at Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne. She is the co-director of studies for the “Développement et aide humanitaire” Master’s course. Stéphanie worked for over fifteen years in the health sector in West Africa. Her first post, lasting eight years, was as the representative of the French Red Cross (Niger, Togo, Mali, Chad and Burkina Faso). She was notably involved in setting up several outpatient treatment centres. She then worked as Head of Mission for the NGO Solthis in Niger, Mali and Guinea for eight years, during which she mainly worked on access to antiretroviral drugs for HIV-positive patients and on strengthening healthcare systems. Stéphanie then spent three years with FEI/Expertise France, coordinating the 5% AIDS, TB and Malaria Initiative. She now divides her time between university teaching and coordinating the Santé Mondiale 2030 (www.santemondiale2030.fr) think tank.