Dorothee Nussbruch
Research Assistant
About
Primary research areas
Building inclusive partnerships for resilient futures
I am a PhD Fellow specializing in cross-sector partnerships in crisis and humanitarian contexts. My work investigates how (local) businesses, governments, and humanitarian actors collaborate, and sometimes clash, in disaster response and resilience efforts. Grounded in critical management and geography, I adopt a qualitative, interdisciplinary approach to examine how power, place, and legitimacy shape collaboration across local, national, and global levels.
My research highlights the often-overlooked role of local businesses as resilience actors and explores how systemic barriers affect their inclusion in humanitarian governance. This work contributes to broader debates on localization, private sector engagement, and inclusive crisis governance.
Before my PhD at Copenhagen Business School, I worked with the World Food Programme, the Connecting Business Initiative, and the Harvard Kennedy School as a Mercator Fellow, which deepened my interest in bridging research and practice to support more equitable crisis response.
Publications
See all publicationsOctober 2025
No Seat at the Table
How Territoriality Constrains Cross-sector Collaboration in Disaster Response
Go to publicationJune 2025
Rethinking Resourcefulness
The Role of Systemic Inequalities in Organizational Resilience
Go to publicationMay 2025
Struggles Over Value, Access and Positionality
Differentiated Dis/association Agency in Humanitarian Aid
Go to publication