In January 2026, one of HUD’s Principal Investigators, Jonathan Luke Austin participated in the inaugural event of the Symposium Series for the Future of Humanitarianism, in Copenhagen, Denmark. The Symposium Series is an independent initiative set up to foster in-depth, open conversations between leading thinkers within and outside the humanitarian space and to generate radical ideas and collaborations for how to build a better system.

In Copenhagen, participants included Peter Maurer, Jakob Øster, Karen Kisakeni Sørensen, Elizabeth Campbell, Tammam Aloudat, Sara Leedom, Lina AbiRafeh, Jeremy Konyndyk, Kennedy Odede, Jonathan Austin, Kuol Arou Kuol, Shahin Ashraf MBE, and co-facilitators Cecilie Hestbæk and Diego Hakspiel.

The basis for the event in Copenhagen was the following brief:

The humanitarian aid system stands at a crossroads amid seismic shifts in the global aid architecture and the contexts within which it operates, not least the exponentially evolving impacts of climate change. Unflinching analysis and bold thinking are needed to develop a vision for a new humanitarianism – one that is effective and fit for purpose in protracted crises. Emergencies are growing in complexity – from climate-induced disasters and protracted conflicts to overt breaches of international humanitarian law by state actors and unprecedented violence against humanitarian staff. At the same time, the humanitarian system is facing multiple crises at once: a crisis of legitimacy, having failed to shift power to those affected by the emergencies it responds to and being unable to meet growing needs or address root causes; a breakdown of the legal frameworks that should protect civilians and humanitarians in violent conflict; and the collapse or contraction of major funding streams for humanitarian aid.

Below, or accessible here, you can find a copy of the facilitators’ summary of the discussions held during the event in Copenhagen. It does not represent consensus among participants, nor an endorsed position, but seeks to capture key tensions, dilemmas, and emerging directions that may help carry the conversation forward. The summary reflects the depth, honesty, and urgency of the conversations that took place in Copenhagen – surfacing hard dilemmas, challenging long‑held assumptions, and sketching new directions on norms, power, and finance. It marks a starting point, as ideas now move toward action across the symposium series.

The event, and the accessible summary, was based on Chatham House Rules. It does not present a blueprint for a wholly new system, nor does it assume that the tensions at the heart of humanitarianism can simply be designed away. Rather, it sets out a diagnosis of the main dilemmas and contradictions shaping humanitarian action today, identifies the direction in which participants believe the cursor must move, and points to concrete areas of follow-on work. The aim is not to claim rupture for its own sake, but to state more clearly the weaknesses of the present system and the profile of humanitarianism that may be needed in the years ahead.