Humanitarian organizations can benefit from collaborations with professional researchers. Researchers can provide an external evaluation of current practices, develop ideas and plans for improvement, or design tailored training solutions.

However, many organisations and individuals have concerns about working with a university. Will the results be too theoretical and not applicable to the humanitarian context? Will projects be prohibitively expensive? Will the work take such a long time that the operational reality has moved on by the time results are available?

In this interactive session, we will address many of these common concerns and outline how research-driven collaborations can be a vehicle for improvement and empowerment in humanitarian logistics. The leadership of the HUMLOG Institute will share their experiences of conducting humanitarian logistics for and with humanitarian organisations. The HUMLOG portfolio ranges from short research project commissioned by one organisation to multi-year projects with large international consortia.

We invite practitioners, researchers, and those who have worked with either to present their own stories of project successes and challenges. We also welcome participants to share their experiences and express any worries they might have.

The aim of this session is to develop a shared understanding of how research can be a valuable tool for humanitarian logistics professionals and what can be done to better bridge any existing gaps between research and practice.