As with any book, numerous people have kindly given their time, expertise and encouragement over the course of the past few years. My awareness of and interest in the emerging field of international disaster law was first sparked by David Fisher of the IFRC over seven years ago while I was still working for the Irish Red Cross Society. Subsequently, my PhD supervisors at University College Cork (UCC), Siobh?n Mullally and Siobh?n Wills, expertly guided me through the process of developing my research and academic skills, and have consistently provided me with support while simultaneously challenging me to critique my work. I would similarly like to thank my PhD examiners André Nollkaemper and Owen McIntyre for encouraging me to develop the concept of an acquis humanitaire into this monograph. I first presented my initial thoughts on the acquis humanitaire at the fourth International Four Societies Conference on ‘International Law and Disasters’ at UC Berkeley in September 2012, at the kind invitation of the American Society of International Law and generously hosted by David Caron. At the conference I benefitted greatly from discussion, debate and insights from other participants, including Kirsten Bookmiller, Claire Clement, David Caron, Michael Kelly and Anastasia Telesetsky, as well as editorial comments on my chapter introducing the acquis humanitaire in the subsequent publication.1 I must also specifically thank Marlies Hesselman for our engaging debates and discussions around the core concepts of accountability and the full cycle of protection as we developed our joint paper on the human rights implications of disasters for the Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights (2015).