Drawing on the synergies between business logistics and in the humanitarian domain, INSEAD and The Kühne Logistics University recently partnered to open a research centre on humanitarian logistics that will focus on three key areas: immediate disaster response, global healthcare supply chains and fleet management. The centre will also analyse which knowledge can be transferred between business logistics and humanitarian relief.

“Humanitarian logistics is a growing area of importance due to the decrease in the amount of funds available and the increase in the number of disasters occurring regularly around the world,” Luk Van Wassenhove, professor of operations management at INSEAD and co-director of the centre tells us. “The humanitarian world has undervalued the importance of logistics, and training is desperately needed for relief workers. We look forward to working with THE KLU to develop research that will directly benefit humanitarian organisations in their disaster relief efforts.”