After several weeks of mass starvation in Gaza dominating global television coverage, news reports of similar conditions in Sudan’s El Fasher, once Darfur’s capital, are finally emerging. Both regions remain under siege, with starvation deployed as a weapon for the purpose of emptying and occupying them.

The international team met in Cairo (with Indian colleagues joining online) to discuss the preliminary analysis of our three country cases, start a comparative analysis, and plan our publications and dissemination strategy.

Sathya, Tamer and Susanne participated online in the DSA conference of 2025 on the 26th of June. 

This article argues that the digitalisation of food assistance mimics aspects of colonialism, especially in terms of the asymmetries involved in the extraction of data (as a valuable resource) from vulnerable populations and the dominating role of US-based multinationals.

This working paper reports on phase I – the exploratory phase – of ESRC-funded research into the effects of digitalising food assistance in India.

On May 21, 2025, Yasmin presented on findings from the Birmingham case study at the Future Food Symposium 2025, hosted by the University of Birmingham's Business School.

Susanne was invited to speak at a conference at Utrecht University (13-14 February 2025) on 'Conflict, War and Peace', as part of a panel on rethinking structural violence.

This working paper examines the digitalisation of food assistance in the UK, focusing on its implementation, challenges, and socio-political implications.

This working paper reports on the exploratory phase of ESRC-funded research into the effects of digitalising food assistance in Sudan. The main question addressed is: to what extent have food assistance and social welfare practices been digitalised, and why?

A freedom of information request has revealed that an AI system used by the UK government for assessing benefits cases is apparently getting it wrong by a “statistically significant” amount.

On 5 November 2024, Iris Lim presented “Digital Access to Welfare Services and Food Assistance for Migrants in the UK” at the Future of Immigration Conference 2024.

The UK team co-delivered an interactive workshop “Digital Solutions for Food Insecurity: Can Technology Address Food Access Challenges?”

In this blog, IHSA Vice-President and Senior Research Fellow at the Food Studies Centre at SOAS (University of London) Susanne Jaspars summarises and expands upon a contribution to the roundtable that followed the inaugural IHSA Annual Lecture on “War and Humanity” held in Bergen in May 2024.

This article, originally published on 30 October 2024 by Disasters, explores the role of historical, political, and economic processes in understanding war and famine in Sudan after 2023.

From 16-19 July 2024, Sathya and Susanne participated in a conference in Amsterdam organised by the European Association for the Study of Science and Technology (EASST) and the Society for Social Studies of Science (4S).

In this podcast, Dr Susanne Jaspars and Dr Tamer Abd Elkreem speak with Amnesty International Students Rotterdam about the ongoing crisis in Sudan.

Check out our panel on ‘governance, politics and food security’ at the upcoming DSA conference.

On Wednesday the 24th of April, 2024, the team presented preliminary findings of the research at the CEDEJ Khartoum office in Cairo.

The Humanitarian Evidence and Discourse Summary has selected the Sudan Project Blog post as one of the top 5 reads in the October issue.

text

Iris Lim participated in the @ESRC Festival of Social Science, held on 3rd and 6th November, SOAS

From 5-7 November, the ‘digitalising food assistance’ team participated in the World Conference on Humanitarian Studies. 

Susanne and Tamer participated in a conference (from 18-20 October 2023) at the University of Bergen, marking the 60 year anniversary of academic collaboration between Bergen and Sudan, in particular the University of Khartoum

The past two decades have seen an acceleration in the digitalisation of food assistance and social welfare.

Sudan has experienced a catastrophic increase in violence since 15 April, particularly in Darfur and in the capital Khartoum.