I am an expert in development in areas affected by disaster, conflict or fragility, with a special focus on aid-society relations: the impact of humanitarian aid on society and the ways in which people and institutions shape the organization of aid relations.

I have supervised 32 PhD candidates (9 ongoing and 23 completed). In my current position, I am director of HSC, Humanitarian Studies Center.

My research programmes have taken place in settings affected by disaster, conflict and fragility, including Afghanistan, Angola, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, the Philippines, Rwanda, South Sudan, and Sri Lanka.

In addition to my academic research, I maintain a portfolio for applied assignments and advisory work, which has enhanced an intimate knowledge base of international organizational processes.

Thea Hilhorst tweets on humanitarian issues @hilhorst_thea and regularly writes blogs at www.issblog.nl

Publications of articles

• D.J.M. Hilhorst, I. Desportes, & C. de Miliano (2019). Humanitarian governance and resilience building: Ethiopia in comparative perspective. Disasters, 43(S2), 109-131. doi: 10.1111/disa.12332
• Desportes, I., Mandefro, H., & Hilhorst, D. (2019). The humanitarian theatre: Drought response during Ethiopia’s low-intensity conflict of 2016. The Journal of Modern African Studies, 57(1), 31-59.
• G. Lokuge & D.J.M. Hilhorst (2018). Outside the net: Intersectionality and inequality in the fisheries of Trincomalee, Sri Lanka. Asian Journal of Womens Studies, 23 (4), 473-497.
• J.A. Diemel & D.J.M. Hilhorst (2018). Unintended consequences or ambivalent policy objectives? Conflict minerals and mining reform in the DR Congo. Development Policy Review.
• D.J.M. Hilhorst (2018). Classical humanitarianism and resilience humanitarianism: making sense of two brands of humanitarian action. Journal of International Humanitarian Action, 3, 1-12.
• D.J.M. Hilhorst, H.E. Porter & R. Gordon (2018). Gender, sexuality and violence in humanitarian crises. Disasters, 41 (S1), 3-16.
• A.G. Srikandini, R.S. van Voorst & D. Hilhorst (2018). Disaster Risk Governance in Indonesia and Myanmar: The Practice of Co-Governance. Politics and Governance, 6 (3), 180-189.

Publications of book chapters 

• R. Van Voorst & D.J.M. Hilhorst (2018). Key Points of Interactive Research: An Ethnographic Approach to Risk. In A. Olofsson & J.O. Zinn (Eds.), Researching Risk and Uncertainty. Methodologies, Methods and Research Strategies (Critical Studies in Risk and Uncertainty) (pp. 53-77). Cham: Palgrave Macmillan
• D.J.M. Hilhorst (2018). Arenas. In T Allen, A MacDonald & H Radice (Eds.), Humanitarianism: A Dictionary of Concepts (pp. 30-51). London: Routledge
• D.J.M. Hilhorst, B. Weijs & G. van der Haar (2017). Facing Fragilities: The socially embedded nature of socio-economic recovery. In D.J.M. Hilhorst, B. Weijs & G. van der Haar (Eds.), People, Aid and Institutions in Socio-economic Recovery: Facing Fragilities (Routledge Humanitarian Studies) (pp. 1-19). London: Routledge Eartscan
• C.I. Wakenge & D.J.M. Hilhorst (2017). Emergency or Durable Solution? Coltan Mining and Cooperatives in Northern Katanga (DRC). In D Hilhorst, B. Weijs & G. van der Haar (Eds.), People, Aid and Institutions in Socio-economic Recovery: Facing Fragilities (Routledge Humanitarian Studies) (pp. 82-99). London: Routledge Eartscan
• R. Twijnstra & D.J.M. Hilhorst (2017). Blind Spots: Domestic Entrepreneurship and Private-sector Development in South-Sudan. In D.J.M. Hilhorst, B. Weijs & G. van der Haar (Eds.), People, Aid and Institutions in Socio-economic Recovery: Facing Fragilities (Routledge Humanitarian Studies) (pp. 119-137). Abington, Oxon, UK: Routledge
• W. Wairimu, M.A. Slingerland & D.J.M. Hilhorst (2017). Aid under Contestation: public works, labour and community-based food security programming in post-conflict northern Uganda. In D.J.M. Hilhorst, B. Weijs & G. van der Haar (Eds.), People, Aid and Institutions in Socio-economic Recovery: Facing Fragilities (Routledge Humanitarian Studies) (pp. 156-173). Abington, Oxon, UK: Routledge
• P.M. Kyamusugulwa, J. Cuvelier & D.J.M. Hilhorst (2017). Labour mobilisation: The case of Tushiriki (DRC). In D.J.M. Hilhorst, B. Weijs & G. van der Haar (Eds.), People, Aid and Institutions in Socio-economic Recovery: Facing Fragilities (pp. 138-156). London: Routledge