Doctorant (ULB coopération)
Faculté de Philosophie et Sciences sociales
Centre de recherche Mondes Modernes & Contemporains - CP 133/01
Avenue F.D. Roosevelt, 50
B-1050 Bruxelles
Layth.Hanbali@ulb.be
Biography
I am undertaking a PhD in History at ULB, under a cooperation scholarship with Birzeit University, Palestine. I am researching the historic entanglement between Palestinian liberation medicine and European solidarity medicine. I am also a Fellow and researcher at the Institute for Palestine Studies, where I manage the digital project “Documenting the Targeting and Destruction of the Health Sector in the Gaza Strip.”
Qualifications
- Degree in Medicine (Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery), University College London
- Bachelor’s degree in Medical Sciences with Global Health, University College London
- Master’s degree in Health Policy, Planning and Financing, London School of Economics and Political Science and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Areas of interest
- Anti-colonial health work
- Medical solidarity
- Necropower
- Humanitarianism critique
Overview of my research
My PhD research focuses on the history of Palestinian social movements in health since the 1967 Naksa. I consider how social structures Palestinians built for health in service of a revolutionary liberation project were attempts at asserting popular sovereignty, in Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon and within Palestine. I also consider the history of European institutions that formed to support Palestinian revolutionary health institutions and the circumstances that shaped their trajectory from solidarity to humanitarian actors.
Title of thesis : « Insurgent Infrastructures: Palestinian Social Movements in Health », under the direction of Mr Verschueren.
Teaching responsibilities
I undertake frequent ad-hoc teaching engagements, most recently as a guest lecturer at Imperial College London, Birzeit University, University of Amsterdam, Georgetown University, and University of California.
Selected publications
Book
- Hanbali L, and al-Sahli A (eds.) Witness from the Field: Gaza Doctors Speak (Arabic). Institute for Palestine Studies, Beirut (2026)
Academic writing
- Hanbali, L. “Targeting Fertility During the Genocide: An Attempt to Destroy the Future of Palestine” Majallat al-Dirasat al-Filastiniyya 143 (2025)
- Smith, J., El-Solh, S., Hanbali, L. et al. “Realising health justice in Palestine: beyond humanitarian voices.” Conflict and Health 19(7) (2025)
- Hanbali, L., Asi, Y. “Assessing the Universality of Universal Health Coverage: Israel and the Occupation of Palestine.” Palestine/Israel Review 2 (2024)
- Hanbali, L. et al. "Israeli necropolitics and the pursuit of health justice in Palestine." BMJ Global Health 9 (2024): e014942.
- Mills, D., Kumar, R., Wispelway, B., Asi, Y., Tanous, O., Hanbali, L., Bouquet, B., Hammoudeh, W. “Social Medicine Education towards Structural Transformation in Palestine.” Social Science & Medicine. (2024)
- Hanbali, L. et al. "Independent monitoring and the new pandemic agreement." BMJ Global Health 8, no. 11 (2023): e013348.
- Smith, J., Jit, E., Hanbali, L., Hafez, S., Neilson, A., & Khoury, R. "Violence in Palestine demands immediate resolution of its settler colonial root causes." BMJ Global Health 8, no. 10 (2023): e014269–e014269.
- Schwalbe, N., Hanbali, L., Nunes, M. C., & Lehtimaki, S. "Use of financial incentives to increase adult vaccination coverage: A narrative review of lessons learned from COVID-19 and other adult vaccination efforts." Vaccine: X 12 (2022): 100225.
- Hanbali, L. et al.. "Independent Monitoring Mechanism for the Pandemic Accord." UNU International Institute for Global Health (2022).
- Jones, CM., Eigbike, M., Hanbali, L., Kay, S., Kebede, M., Wenham, C. "Institutional design and management of a continental research fund in Africa: Insights from an international review of research funding bodies." (2021).