Dr Philip Proudfoot has expertise in humanitarianism, conflict and development, with field-based and policy-focused work in the Middle East and North Africa and beyond.
Philip’s research is grounded in the Arabic-speaking world, with a strong empirical and theoretical interest in economic inequality; forced migration; protracted conflict; protection, including social protection, and the humanitarian-development-peace (HDP) nexus.
His work engages critically with dominant humanitarian approaches, drawing on participatory and ethnographic methods to foreground the experiences and political agency of affected communities. He also works on the political sociology of aid, with a particular emphasis on the everyday politics of social protection, labour, and displacement.
At IDS, Philip has led and contributed to a range of research and evaluation projects for major international organisations, including the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), International Labour Organization (ILO), United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), World Food Programme (WFP), InterAction, Save the Children, and the Norwegian Refugee Council. His work has directly informed global policy conversations on localisation, accountability, and humanitarian learning.
Notably, Philip contributed to the UN’s Inter-Agency Humanitarian Evaluation (IAHE) of the Yemen response – the first independent evaluation of a $16 billion multilateral humanitarian operation. He also led a high-level evaluation of the ILO’s efforts to support post-conflict economic recovery in Iraq and Yemen. His current projects include co-leading a participatory protection evaluation for the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC). Philip also maintains an interest in combating rising impunity.
PhD supervision
Philip currently supervises two PhD researchers, Helene Julliard and Kelly David. Philip is open to supervising further PhD students who wish to work on humanitarianism and the humanitarian system, conflict and recovery, displacement, and social movements.
