Humanitarian Operations Lab

Humanitarian operations alleviate suffering after disasters and improve the long-term living conditions of people affected by crises and extreme poverty. By collaborating closely with humanitarian and nonprofit organizations, we aim to support their work with data and insights to strengthen their operations.

Natural disasters and armed conflicts cause suffering for millions of people worldwide every year. Extreme poverty, climate change and unreliable access to basic services increase the potential severity of these crises. HOPE Lab's mission is to better equip humanitarian organizations to respond.

Publications

Research Areas

  • Optimizing post-disaster and development operations

    We combine post-disaster with development research to analyze their mix using the disaster-management-cycle framework.

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  • Humanitarian operations management and armed conflict

    We follow an interdisciplinary approach to understand the complexity of armed conflicts and their implications for humanitarian operations.

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  • Global supply chain management and decentralization

    We study global humanitarian supply chains that are run by decentralized organizations with the support of local partners.

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  • Donation and volunteer management

    We study the behavior of donors and volunteers as a critical component of humanitarian operations.

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  • Humanitarian information management

    We explore the vital role of information for planning, monitoring, and evaluation of humanitarian operations and disaster management.

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Connect with HOPE

Whether you’re with a humanitarian or nonprofit organization, a student seeking to learn or a researcher interested in our focus areas, HOPE Lab welcomes you. For all inquiries, please contact Dr. Alfonso Pedraza Martinez at the link below.

Contact