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Professor and students nominate Khartoum Aid Kitchen for the Nobel Peace Prize

Professor and students nominate Khartoum Aid Kitchen for the Nobel Peace Prize

Fayline Kollen

14 January 2026

Campus

Professor Michal Onderco officially nominates Khartoum Aid Kitchen for the Nobel Peace Prize. His students made the choice together with him during a class.

For some time now, Onderco, professor of International Relations at the ESSB, has been exploring how to involve his students in Management of International Social Challenges (MISOC) more closely with the practice of international policy. One way of doing so is by involving them in the nomination he is allowed to submit for the Nobel Peace Prize. Last Friday, he and his students made the final decision.

Not everyone is allowed to submit a nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize. This privilege is reserved for people like heads of state, members of parliament, international judges, and – indeed – professors of International Relations. To substantiate his nomination, Onderco’s students were given the opportunity to pitch candidates to him over the past few weeks. They wrote two-page motivation letters for each candidate, which he will use as the basis for writing an official motivation letter. He will send this letter, on behalf of himself and all the students, to the Nobel Institute. This must be done before 31 January.

Onderco drew his inspiration for this from a colleague, who once carried out a nomination with students for fun. “Well, that sounded appealing”, Onderco laughs, “so that is why I decided to prepare the nomination with MISOC students who want to get more out of their studies.”

Controversy

During the programme, the students held a brainstorming session. “They gave the students an hour and a half to think about what makes a good candidate”, Onderco explains.

“A candidate should, in our view, contribute to positive peace, work in a sustainable way and benefit from greater publicity. In addition, their goal must be morally positive. This last point was a subjective criterion to prevent a controversial candidate from being proposed.”

The risk of controversy is the reason why the students didn’t choose individuals, but organisations. Onderco: “At the start we talked about individuals, but according to the students the risk was too great that a controversial candidate would emerge. So they did not want to go in that direction.”

Khartoum Aid Kitchen

The organisation they ultimately want to nominate is Khartoum Aid Kitchen. “There were four groups. Each group nominated an organisation”, says Katerina Scordis, one of the students. “We voted and calculated an average from this. Khartoum Aid Kitchen scored the highest.”

Oana-Natalia Căpitanu is a member of the group that put this organisation forward. “Khartoum Aid Kitchen started from nothing”, she shares. “This organisation provides, among other things, aid in areas struggling with food shortages.”

Khartoum Aid Kitchen was founded in response to the humanitarian crisis in Sudan that arose after the outbreak of the war. At present, the organisation runs kitchens in eight of the country’s eighteen states. Căpitanu: “The community kitchens draw inspiration from a Sudanese tradition, nafeer, which is based on mutual support. They feed around 30,000 people every day and provide medical assistance.”

“Khartoum Aid Kitchen was started by young people. Two Sudanese boys from the United Kingdom set up a GoFundMe page. But when you are not a well-known UN organisation, it is difficult to raise money in this way. An organisation needs legitimacy and media attention. And that is where the Nobel Prize can help.”

Obvious choice

Although each group of students proposed a different organisation, Khartoum Aid Kitchen seems the most obvious choice. “I think I also rated Khartoum Aid Kitchen the highest”, says Milena Król, who herself put forward a different candidate. “It is the most urgent cause, and you know that they genuinely want to help.”