Welcome to the HUMLOG Institute!

A man carrying a plastic bag in one hand, walking on gravel towards a refugee camp
The Humanitarian Logistics and Supply Chain Research Institute is a focal point for researchers in humanitarian logistics.

The HUMLOG Institute was established in 2008, after two years of close collaboration and exchanges between several schools, universities, and institutes within the Nordic Countries. It is a joint institute between Hanken School of Economics and the National Defence University in Finland and is hosted at Hanken in Helsinki. Throughout the years, the Institute has worked in close cooperation with several International Non-Governmental Organizations, UN Agencies, and societies from the Red Cross/Red Crescent movement and is considered as one of the top research centres in humanitarian logistics worldwide. Today the Institute continues to serve as a platform and physical place for researchers and practitioners to share and disseminate ideas and knowledge in the field of humanitarian logistics and supply chain management.

The humanitarian sector is changing, it is becoming more demanding in terms of skills, expertise and knowledge. As disasters and humanitarian crises are increasing and becoming more long-term and complex, with it increases also the need for expertise within humanitarian logistics and supply chain management. Logistics and Supply Chain Management stand for 60 to 80 percent of all costs when responding to disasters and humanitarian crises, and therefore our competence on these topics put us in a privileged position to support the efforts of international and local humanitarian organization through practice-led relevant research projects. This is the reason behind why business schools are interested in humanitarian logistics and supply chain management.

A man wearing a white collar shirt, black blaser with his dark long hair in a high bun

The HUMLOG Institute is one of the first and currently a leading research centre for both academics and practitioners. Our trajectory and capacity have led us to expand our expertise to lead and participate in large research projects that involve academic institutions and humanitarian organizations. The past three years, the HUMLOG Institute has witnessed an exponential growth particularly with regards to international projects, number of partners, and researchers. With this acquired structure, the upcoming years will focus on strengthening and developing our collaboration with the humanitarian context, refocusing on our four pillars to produce cutting-edge relevant and impactful research with and for humanitarian organizations.

Diego Vega, Director of the HUMLOG Institute