The Geneva Centre of Humanitarian Studies was created in its present form in 2008 by an agreement between The Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (IHEID) and the University of Geneva (UNIGE).
The Supervisory Committee
It is the general supervisory body. The Rector of UNIGE and the Director of IHEID sit on the Committee. The Committee’s main tasks are:
- Nominate the president of the centre’s Board of Directors on the basis of a recommendation from the board;
- Monitor the application of the strategy proposed by the board, and ensure that it falls within the framework of the general strategy of the University and the IHEID;
- Approve the annual budget and accounts in addition to the annual report.
The Board of Directors
It is the strategic governing body. It is composed of representatives from UNIGE, IHEID and several humanitarian organizations. In addition, two eminent individuals are co-opted to serve on the board. Its tasks are:
- Guide and monitor the centre’s strategy;
- Identify, orient and ensure the implementation and internal oversight of teaching, research and other activities in order to achieve the Centre’s objectives;
- Develop and transmit course regulations to the competent authorities and oversee their application;
- Deal with conflicts involving students through a Mediation Commission established within the Board.
Current Members of the Board of Directors:
Prof François Dermange
Graduated from HEC (Paris), François Dermange was a consultant in Arthur Andersen. He then studied theology in Paris, then Geneva, where he wrote his thesis on Adam Smith. Since 1998 he is a regular professor of ethics at the Faculty of Theology in Geneva where he was dean for four years (2005-2009). One of his main lines of research concerns Calvin and the ethics of the reformed tradition. He has published numerous articles in this field and is currently completing a work on the ethics of Calvin. He also works on the ethics of economics and sustainable development, and teaches economic ethics to HEC Master students.
Prof Marco Sassòli
Marco Sassòli, is professor of international law at the Faculty of Law of the University of Geneva. From 2001-2003, he has been professor of international law at the Université du Québec à Montreal, Canada, where he remains associate professor. He is commissioner of the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) and pro bono special advisor on IHL of the prosecutor of the international Criminal Court.
Marco Sassòli has worked from 1985-1997 for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) at the headquarters, inter alia as deputy head of its legal division, and in the field, inter alia as head of the ICRC delegations in Jordan and Syria and as protection coordinator for the former Yugoslavia.
He has also served as chair of the board of Geneva Call, an NGO engaging non-State armed actors to respect humanitarian rules and as director of the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights.
Marco Sassòli has published widely on international humanitarian law (most recently: International Humanitarian Law: Rules, Controversies, and Solutions to Problems Arising in Warfare, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, 2019), human rights law, international criminal law, the sources of international law, and the responsibility of states and non-state actors.
Prof Markus Stoffel
Professor Stoffel focuses on Climate Change Impacts and Risks in the Anthropocene (C-CIA), with the aim to understand, document and quantify fundamental environmental processes, and the drivers of change. Much of the research of his group involves the development of applications of tree-ring techniques and the use of various unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The group observes, documents and analyses environmental and climatic changes both at the local and the hemispheric scales and by covering daily to seasonal, decadal, centennial and millenial timeframes.
In a nutshell, Prof Stoffel research is related to climate change impacts, time-series and dynamics of hydrogeomorphic and earth-surface processes at altitude and/or high latitudes, as well as on dendroecology and wood anatomy of trees and shrubs. More particularly, he has been working over the past few years on the impacts of climatic changes on periglacial mass movements, the effects of volcanic eruptions on climate (temperature, precipitation), peatland evolution over the Holocene and its link to hydroclimatic changes, the effects of climate and global changes on biodiversity, biomass or sequestered carbon in the Himalayas, Myanmar and the Andes, or on causes and effects of erosion in badlands or along the Mediterranean coast.
As such, the work of the C-CIA team has contributed to the understanding of the large set of impacts of environmental and/or climatic changes on humans and societies.
Mr William Empson
William Empson is Head of Learning & development , Médecins Sans Frontières Switzerland (MSF). He started his assignment as Head of L&D in November 2019. His unit is in charge of creating , deploying and overseeing all learning activities in MSF’s countries of intervention.William Empson has been working with MSF since 2007 and has been deployed in different field position, notably in Iran, Niger, South Sudan, Haiti, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon. Before MSF William has worked in national NGOs in Syria and Armenia for 3 years. William Empson has completed his professional experience with studies in Humanitarian Action and studies of Adult learning both done in Geneva University.
Ms Mary Werntz
She is responsible for overseeing the organization’s activities to help people in need as a result of armed conflict around the world. With a particular interest in the specific needs of women, the disabled and the elderly, Mary leads the ICRC’s efforts to prevent sexual violence in armed conflicts and supervises the organization’s Health Care in Danger project. She is also a member of the board of directors of the Geneva-based Centre for Education and Research on Humanitarian Action (CERAH).
A Swiss national born in the United States, Mary Werntz began her career with the ICRC in 1995, when, as an Urdu interpreter in Kashmir, she carried out the first ICRC visits to people held in detention in India. Since then, she has led operations and activities all over the world for the organization, heading up its delegations in Azerbaijan (2004) and Nepal (2007), and its regional delegations in the United States and Canada (2009), and in New Delhi (2012).
Mary holds a master’s degree in city and regional planning from Cornell University, where she specialized in international development planning, and a BA in South Asia studies from the University of Wisconsin. She is married, with two teenaged daughters.
Mr Philippe Besson
Philippe Besson is Head of Multilateral Division, Swiss Humanitarian Aid at the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC).
Philippe Besson started his assignment as Head, Multilateral Division at the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (FDFA – SDC) in August, 2017. His unit primarily is in charge of Switzerland’s relations with, and contributions to UN humanitarian organisations, as well as the Red Cross-Red Crescent Movement. Moreover, it manages and coordinates Switzerland’s contribution to disaster risk reduction and the promotion of resilient societies.
Philippe Besson has been with SDC since 1990. He carries a degree from the Geneva Graduate Institute of Development Studies. He combines experience in the field with expertise in development policies, in particular as regards development effectiveness. Mr. Besson was stationed over the years in Berne, Dhaka, Niamey, Paris (OECD-DAC) and Juba (South Sudan). He managed SDC programmes in India, Turkey, Poland and Palestine.
Prof Germain Poizat
Germain Poizat is currently Professor at the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences of the University of Geneva
For more information about his profile
Prof Stéphanie Dagron
Stéphanie Dagron is a professor of law at the University of Geneva, teaching international, european and national health and social security law. She has been named Professor at the law Faculty in February 2016 and at the medical Faculty in April 2019. She is a member of the Global Studies Institute and the Institute of Global Health.
French by nationality, she holds a PhD in International and European law from the Universities of Poitiers (France) and Saarbrücken (Germany). She has worked as a research fellow at the Max-Planck-Institute for International Law and Comparative Public Law in Heidelberg and as a lecturer at the Universities of Saarbrücken, Strasbourg, Poitiers, Heidelberg, Zürich and Neuchâtel.
Between 2009 and 2013, Stephanie was a senior research fellow at the Institute of Biomedical Ethics at the University of Zurich. Between 2013 and 2019, Stephanie was also a SNSF-Professor
working on a large-scale research project entitled “juridification of global health concerns: implications for health prevention, treatment and health systems”.
Since 2013, Stéphanie practices international law in her work as a consultant for WHO in the fields of tuberculosis, human rights and research ethics.
More information about Prof. Dagron, including a list of her publications, is available here.
Prof Simon Hug
He obtained his PhD in political science from the University of Michigan (1994) after completing an undergraduate and Masters’ degree at the University of Geneva (1987, resp 1989).
After postdoc positions at the University of Geneva, the European University Institute in Florence and at the University of California, San Diego (SNF Fellowship), he taught political science as assistant professor at the University of Texas at Austin, and as full professor at the Universities of St. Gallen and Zurich.
His research interests are at the intersection of comparative politics and international relations, focusing on decision-making processes, institutions and conflict resolution. His publications appear in various journals, among them the American Political Science Review, Annual Review of Political Science, British Journal of Political Science,Comparative Political Studies, European Journal of Political Research, European Union Politics, International Organization, Journal of Conflict Resolution, Journal of Peace Research, Journal of Theoretical Politics, Legislative Studies Quarterly, Party Politics, Political Analysis, Public Choice, Review of International
Organizations, as well as in several edited volumes and books.