Harvard Humanitarian Initiative
Research and Education for Communities in Humanitarian Crisis
The Harvard Humanitarian Initiative (HHI) is a university-wide academic and research center in humanitarian crisis and leadership. Our mission is to create new knowledge and advance evidence-based leadership in disasters and humanitarian crisis. Our work focuses on two main areas: the Humanitarian Academy at Harvard and Research & Translation.
Professional Education
Programs to train emerging leaders, executives, and practitioners on best practices to maximize impact in their humanitarian work.
Online Education
Free online courses that focus on the fundamentals of humanitarian response.
Harvard Students
Activities and offerings to prepare Harvard Graduate and Undergraduate students to enter humanitarian careers.
Humanitarian Research at Harvard
Since 2005, HHI has served as the humanitarian research hub at Harvard University bringing together world-renowned faculty, scholars, and experts from all Harvard Schools and Teaching Hospitals. Our research strategy aims to address the core drivers of humanitarian emergencies, investigate effective humanitarian responses and contribute to the translation of research into policy and operational changes.
Humanitarian Strategies
Investigates how to advance the humanitarian field, focusing on the critical areas of negotiation, leadership, education, and evaluation.
Risk, Resilience, and Response
Examines the impact of complex humanitarian emergencies and aims to find ways to improve resilience and response.
Technology and Innovation
Explores the impact of emerging technologies on the humanitarian field, focusing on both ethical and technical considerations.
Featured Course
Humanitarian Response Intensive Course
Two week intensive course and simulation exercise that trains participants in the tools they will need to deploy to a complex humanitarian emergency response.
