HRIC is back, course featured at Harvard Art Museums, happenings at HHI

Winter 2022 Newsletter

Our Humanitarian Response Intensive Course and Simulation are Back!

Registration is open! We are excited to announce that our traditional two-week professional course, the Humanitarian Response Intensive Course (HRIC) is back for Spring 2023! Due to COVID-19, we could not host this professional course between 2020-2022. The course will be held from April 18th to April 30th, 2023, and will conclude with the full traditional outdoor simulation.

Learn More HRIC and the Simulation

Publications

Community Resilience When Disaster Strikes: Security and Community Health in UK Flood Zones

Sonny Patel, Visiting Scientist, recently published his first book which describes the current understanding of community resilience as it applies to security and disasters and

discusses the practical implications to improve the disaster resilience of communities.

Human Trafficking and the Growing Malady of Disinformation

Researchers provide several recommendations for the health sector to leverage their educational and advocacy power to combat trafficking disinformation while addressing the root causes of human trafficking.

Assessing the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic among Venezuelan Refugees and Migrants in Colombia using Respondent-Driven Sampling (RDS)

Using a phone-based respondent-driven sampling, researchers sought to determine factors associated with adherence to COVID-19 mitigation measures, related symptoms and testing, as well as pandemic-related income loss among Venezuelan refugee and migrant adults in urban and border areas of Colombia.

Emerging Issues in Humanitarian Response and Human Rights Course at Harvard Art Museums

As part of the University Study Gallery installation for Fall 2022, Harvard Art Museums included a display featuring material in connection with Professors Michael VanRooyen and Patrick Vinck's course "Emerging Issues in Humanitarian Response and Human Rights." This course prepares students to understand and engage in humanitarian response and human rights protection while examining emerging critical challenges that have multi-dimensional global impacts.

The galleries at Harvard Art Museums are open Tuesday - Sunday from 10 am to 5 pm.

Visiting Scientist Spotlight

Nicolas Rost, PhD, MA, MS

Visiting Scientist, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

Nico's research as visiting scientist with HHI focuses on insights and tools to facilitate decision-making in humanitarian financing. This includes projects to identify the factors that explain why some humanitarian appeals are underfunded, a composite index to gauge the severity of emergencies worldwide, a system to identify early warning alerts for displacement and food security crises (together with OCHA’s Centre for Humanitarian Data), a simple regression model to inform the amount of CERF allocations, and exploratory research into early warning signs for conflict and displacement.

This research is closely linked to his work as head of programme for the UN’s global humanitarian fund, CERF, which provides funding to organizations working in new and protracted emergencies. He has published a book and, together with his co-authors, articles on risk assessment for human rights violations, genocide and civil war, democratization in newly independent countries, mediation and peacekeeping, and ethnic civil wars, in the Journal of Conflict Resolution, Journal of Peace Research, International Interactions, Conflict Management and Peace Science, and other journals.

Innovative DEI and Antiracism Strategies to Promote a Remote Virtual Workplace at Harvard

Last summer, HHI was one of the recipients of the President's Administrative Innovation Fund (PAIF) for FY22. The project focused on creating a DEI and antiracism framework that guides HHI’s business practices, can serve as a model for other humanitarian organizations, and promotes an inclusive, fair, and equitable hybrid workplace where team members thrive.

The project concluded in the fall of 2022, and it was an opportunity for HHI to connect with other inter-faculty initiatives and schools at Harvard.

Project team members: Irini Albanti, DrPH, MPH, MA (Team Lead), Sabrina Sarli, Ynis Isimbi, MSc, Tanya Shpigel, MA, and Francesco Sergi, MD (cand), MPH

Learn More About Harvard PAIF

Student Spotlight

Francesco Sergi, MPH

Graduate Research Assistant

Francesco recently wrapped up his work with the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative following the completion of the Innovative DEI and Antiracism Strategies project. In addition to drafting reports and compiling resources, Francesco conducted a survey and 42 semi-structured qualitative interviews of HHI staff, Harvard offices, and DEI offices at Harvard University and Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

Francesco is an MD candidate at the University of California, San Francisco, and will graduate in May 2023. He completed his MPH at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in May 2022. In the future, he hopes to work part-time as an emergency medicine physician and address disparities among immigrants domestically through research, advocacy, and social emergency medicine work. Francesco hopes to integrate this work with a career in humanitarianism, supporting the medical needs of individuals who are displaced from their homes. Outside of work, he enjoys being outside, especially at the beach, salsa dancing, reading, traveling the world, and spending time with family and friends!

Internship duration: Fall 2021 - Fall 2022