First Annual Emma Hutchison Memorial Lecture: Prof Michael Barnett on Mobilising Compassion
Please mark the date and join us later this year - on 4 December at the University of Queensland - for the first Annual Emma Hutchison Memorial Lecture with Professor Michael Barnett from George Washington University.
This will be an in-person event, followed by a reception. But a livestream link as well as a subsequent video-recording will be made available.
The Annual Emma Hutchison Memorial Lecture
This Annual Lecture is held in honour and memory Emma Hutchison, who was Associate Professor of International Relations at the University of Queensland at the time of her passing in November 2024. For more information on Emma see here a Tribute here by UQ and one by myself.
The annual lecture honours Emma’s creative and pioneering work on the role of emotions and images in international relations and on broader political and ethical challenges, including those related to conflict resolution and humanitarian responsibilities.
Mobilising Compassion
The first Emma Hutchison Memorial Lecture will be held at the University of Queensland by Professor Michael Barnett. The lecture deals with the challenge of mobilising compassion at the time when humanitarian ideals and solidarity – as well as funding for them – are in crisis. The lecture will take place in the context of a workshop and collaborative project, which Emma co-lead and which examines the Politics and Ethics of Visualising Humanitarian Crises.
Prof Michael Barnett
Michael Barnett is University Professor of International Affairs and Political Science at the George Washington University. He is one of the leading scholars on humanitarian politics and international relations. Among his many books are Eyewitness to a Genocide: The United Nations and Rwanda; Empire of Humanity: A History of Humanitarianism; Sacred Aid (co-edited with Janice Stein); Humanitarianism in Question (co-edited with Thomas Weiss) and Humanitarianism and Human Rights (co-edited with Jon Pevehouse and Kal Raustiala). Barnett’s new book, co-authored with Unni Karunaka, is ccalled The End of Humanity: Humanitarianism in a Post Liberal Age and will be forthcoming with Cambridge in 2026.
Two prominent scholars on humanitarian affairs will comment on the lecture: Bina D’Costa, who is Professor of International Relations at the Australian National University; and Fiona Terry, who was until recently Director of Research at the International Committee of the Red Cross and an Honorary Professor at the UQ.
