2025 Humanitarian Leadership Conference

About

About the conference

As the world is engulfed by a rising flood of environmental, political and economic conflicts, are we in danger of being swallowed by never-ending disaster? How can uncertainty and risk shape positive communal change and help leaders to navigate the polycrisis?

These questions are at the heart of CHL’s 2025 Humanitarian Leadership Conference: Transformative leadership in times of polycrisis.

As the number of people living in crisis continues to break records, with more than 300 million people in need of life-saving assistance and billions more in or on the edge of extreme poverty, the climate emergency and polarising and inequitable political-economic systems are compounding and growing the problem.

The 2025 Humanitarian Leadership Conference will focus on the very human element of leadership: of who takes risks and how they can make real, positive change. Disrupting the usual discussions and creating space for emerging and insightful analysis, the 2025 Humanitarian Leadership Conference will explore the multiple aspects and impacts of the polycrisis as well as the multi-faceted nature and influence of transformative leadership. It will showcase the increasing reality of diverse leadership and its capacity to navigate and affect positive change in crises around the world.

The 2025 Humanitarian Leadership Conference is hosted by the Centre for Humanitarian Leadership in partnership with the Center for Conflict and Humanitarian Studies.

A hybrid format for maximum engagement

We’re thrilled to announce that the 2025 Humanitarian Leadership Conference will be hosted in Doha, Qatar. From April 8-9, delegates will gather at the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies, home to the Center for Conflict and Humanitarian Studies, or can stream all the action from our dedicated digital conference platform.

Present at the 2025 Humanitarian Leadership Conference

Submissions to present at the 2025 Humanitarian Leadership Conference are now open, and close on December 11. Check the ‘Get involved’ tab on this webpage for more details.

Themes

Themes and sub-themes

Conference submissions should contain an outline of the proposed type of presentation, and should focus on any one of, or combination of, the three key sub-themes of the conference:

1. The Polycrisis

What is it? Complex crises, cascading and compounding disasters, protracted and semi-permanent conflict.
How are crises connected and interrelated? Through climate risks, through the international financial system, through the interconnected global food and water systems, etc.

2. Transformative leadership

What types of leadership and leadership development are required and affective in navigating complex challenges?
Feminist and intersectional leadership
Non-dominant approaches to leadership development and support
How does transformative leadership work in organisational and non-organisational contexts (such as networks, collaborations, collective advocacy, social movements)?

3. Transformative leadership and the polycrisis

How can different approaches to leadership navigate the complexities of the polycrisis, reducing the frequency and depth of crises whilst also mitigating the impacts of crises on people around the world?
How to build and maintain trust, relationships, wellbeing in complex and dynamic crises?

Speakers

Keynote Speakers

The line-up of keynote speakers will be released soon. Please keep checking back for updates.

Get Involved

Present at the 2025 Humanitarian Leadership Conference

Applications to present at the 2025 Humanitarian Leadership Conference are now open.

We’re calling for proposals from those with lived experience of the polycrisis and transformative leadership, as well as from researchers, policy-makers, and practitioners. This includes people working in humanitarian operations, in disaster risk management, and in international and national political economies.

Submissions (abstracts) should be no longer than 500 words in length. We will accept proposals in languages other than English, however please note that Google Translate will be used to translate abstracts to English for reviewers, as such abstracts will not be weighted on the English but the content.

Submit your application via the CVent platform hosted by Deakin University by December 11.

Conference submissions should contain an outline of the proposed type of presentation, and should focus on any one of, or combination of, the three key sub-themes of the conference:

Sub-themes

The polycrisis
Transformative leadership
Transformative leadership and the polycrisis

For more details, please click on the themes tab.

Submission Type:

Oral Presentations – Presentations given by one or two people, often using visual aids discussing a key issue, topic or academic paper
Poster Presentation – Poster outlining project, concept or academic paper with authors giving a short live or pre-recorded presentation
Panel Presentation – Up to four speakers discussing a key issue, topic or academic paper
Non-traditional Expressions – This can include storytelling, musical performances, and multimedia exhibitions. These must be relevant and will be measured against the same rubric.
Workshops – These will be interactive sessions wherein attendees unpack, learn, experience and challenge various topics regarding the conference theme.

Submission criteria and assessment:

All submissions will be assessed against four key measurements:

Relevant: To what extent is the proposal sufficiently connected to the Conference themes and likely to resonate with a global audience?
Evidence-based: To what extent does the abstract proposal present and/or reference evidence to support the major claims, findings, and/or suggestions included in the proposal?
Transformative: To what extent does the abstract proposal outline a novel or transformative idea or reflection on the conference themes? Does this proposal detail new thinking around existing or impending humanitarian problems?
Leadership: To what extent does the panel, workshop, or presentation discuss ideas relevant to leadership and the conduct of leaders in times of the crises.

Details

Sponsor the 2025 Humanitarian Leadership Conference

CHL and CHS are looking for like-minded organisations to sponsor the 2025 Humanitarian Leadership Conference.

The Humanitarian Leadership Conference is a recognised event for challenging conversations. Every two years, the Centre for Humanitarian Leadership (CHL) leverages its unique position at the intersection of academia and practice to convene humanitarian leaders from across the sector to disrupt the usual discussions and create space for emerging and insightful analysis.

In 2025, CHL is combining forces with the Center for Conflict and Humanitarian Studies (CHS) to open the discussion and debate to new audiences in the Middle East region and globally.

Established in 2016, the CHS is an independent research center that generates scholarship and engages in policy and practice on conflict mediation, humanitarian action, and post-conflict recovery in the Arab world and beyond.

Sponsors gain visibility and connections with a diverse range of conference speakers and participants, in addition to noticeably demonstrating their solidarity with leaders who are seeking to disrupt the polycrisis with a focus on the human aspects of leadership.

The 2025 Humanitarian Leadership Conference brings together traditional and non-traditional perspectives from the Global South and North to discuss how leaders can move beyond systemic inertia towards affecting real-world change.

Email our team at events@cfhl.org.au to request a copy of the 2025 Sponsorship Prospectus.