Sonya de Laat, PhD
Dr. Sonya de Laat is the Academic Program Advisor and Curriculum Coordinator in the Mary Heersink School of Global Health and Social Medicine, and a Research Associate with the Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact both at McMaster University. With degrees in Anthropology and Media Studies, Dr. de Laat’s work has focused on historical and ethical dimensions of humanitarian visual culture and action. Currently, her focus is on challenging the promises/hopes of photorealistic generative AI and sharing diverse visual histories related to race and photography and longstanding practices of artifice in visual communication practices as a critical interventions. Her postdoctoral work focused on moral and practical dimensions of palliative care in refugee camps drawing attention to small interventions having big impacts, and the importance of partnered research.
Dr. de Laat is an active member of the Humanitarian Health Ethics research group, and the Canadian Network on Humanitarian History (aidhistory.ca). Representative publications include, “Assembling a global health image: Ethical and pragmatic tensions through the lenses of photographers” (PLOS Glob Public Health 2024), “A case analysis of partnered research on palliative care for refugees in Jordan and Rwanda” (Confl Health 2021), and “The Camera and the Red Cross: ‘Lamentable pictures’ and Conflict Photography Bring into Focus an International Movement, 1855-1865” (IRRC 2021). When not thinking deeply about photography, she engages in her own practice and educational programming on alternative analogue photography, sustainable darkroom practices and cameraless photography.
HUMANITARIAN HEALTH ETHICS 