What We Do
Humanitarian Academy
HHI produces a variety of online and in-person trainings designed to prepare students, practitioners and emerging leaders to succeed in the humanitarian field. Our Professional Education programs train emerging leaders, executives, and practitioners on best practices to maximize impact in their humanitarian work. Our Online Education provides practioners and students with free online courses on the fundamentals of humanitarian response. Our Harvard Education aims 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 team conducts cutting-edge research that improves and transforms humanitarian policy and programming and collaborates with researchers from around the world to investigate and translate research findings into the field. Our established role within the Harvard ecosystem, multidisciplinary nature of our research portfolio, recognition within the global humanitarian arena, and convening power has allowed HHI to be the leading source of evidence-based humanitarian research and translation.
HHI Scholars at Risk
The Harvard Humanitarian Initiative is honored to collaborate with the Harvard SAR Program to host scholars who pursue scholarly activities in the humanitarian field and whose research focuses in areas relevant to HHI’s strategic priorities.
2026 Fellows at the Forefront
The Harvard Humanitarian Initiative is excited to introduce the 2026 Fellows at the Forefront. Fellows at the Forefront is an innovative, faculty-led summer program through the Center for Public Service and Engaged Scholarship that empowers students to address some of the world’s most urgent social issues through research, policy, and advocacy initiatives. The program centers on peer-to-peer learning, with a weekly faculty-guided seminar series.
Fellows participate in the program through one of two roles. Half of the cohort works with community organizations, gaining firsthand experience with the strategies and challenges of addressing social issues through policy or practice. The other half of the cohort works directly with faculty or affiliated researchers, contributing to research and analysis related to the program’s core topic.
