Response to COVID-19 - Learning from humanitarian operations

Moderator Dr. Wojciech Piotrowicz (PhD Brunel, UK, MA Gdańsk, PL, PGDipLATHE Oxon, UK), Associate Professor in Supply Chain Management and Social Responsibility, and Director of the Humanitarian Logistics and Supply Chain Research Institute (HUMLOG Institute). His research is related to technology and risk in supply chain management, humanitarian logistics, performance measurement and evaluation, operations management. Wojciech has considerable experience as member of large international research projects within both the public and private sectors, working with organisations such as Intel, BAE Systems, the European Commission (including Horizon 2020, FP6 and Interreg projects) and the Polish government. He is recipient of Outstanding and Highly Commended paper awards from Emerald Literati Network for Excellence. In commercial sector he was Project and Department Manager in IT company. He leads an Academy of Finland research project (2019-21) focused on humanitarian logistics in conflict areas, which was recently granted a specific extension for the delivery modalities during the COVID-19 epidemic. He also served as observer for H2020 DRIVER+ project. During the response to COVID-19 has been advising Polish national authorities, optimising distribution of protective equipment and medical logistics.

Dr. Elvira Kaneberg, associate researcher at Hanken University, Finland, and Assistant Professor of Business Administration at Jonkoping University, Sweden. She focuses on developing crisis management systems through the strategic use of supply chains, networks, humanitarian logistics, capabilities, and sustainability. In her involvement at the HUMLOG institute at Hanken, Elvira is currently involved in several research activities of the Cash &/or Carry project. Her focus is on case studies that provide an understanding of the impact that the COVID- 19 pandemic represented on the social and the economic environment of people not only in countries with ongoing conflicts and economic struggles but also across the European Union. From her previous wide work experience, among some, Elvira has worked with leading a United Nations Development Control Programme, (UNDCP), in Bogota Colombia. Worked in Bombardier, signal system for rail transport operations, in Stockholm, Sweden. Served the Swedish Defence Materials Administration in different roles targeting expertise in logistics management, planning, and procurement for military operations between 2000--18

Dr. Nezih Altay, Professor of Supply Chain Management and faculty director of the M.S. in Supply Chain Management program at the Driehaus College of Business of DePaul University. He holds a BS in Chemical Engineering from Bogazici University in Istanbul, Turkey, MBA from University of Texas-Pan American and PhD from Texas A&M University. As an experienced and highly qualified teacher-scholar, Dr. Altay has been teaching all aspects of Supply Chain Management and Operations Management since 1999 to Executives, MBAs and undergraduates around the world. His research specializes in humanitarian supply chains, disruption management, and after-sale service operations. He has published his research in leading academic journals and presented in national and international arenas. He also co-edited two books: Service Parts Management: Demand Forecasting and Inventory Control (2011) and Advances in Managing Humanitarian Operations (2016) both published by Springer. He currently serves as the Co-Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Humanitarian Logistics & Supply Chain Management, and Senior Editor of Production and Operations Management. Dr. Altay is a Resilience Research Fellow at Technical University Delft in the Netherlands and a research partner at the Research Institute on Leadership and Operations in Humanitarian Aid at Kühne Logistics University in Hamburg. In 2019, for his contributions to the field of humanitarian logistics, Altay received the Academic/Research Accomplishment Award from the American Logistics Aid Network (ALAN). He is currently visiting Hanken School of Economic as the Fulbright-Hanken Chair in Business and Economics.

Sarah Schiffling, Senior Lecturer in Supply Chain Management at Liverpool John Moores University, UK, and an International Research Fellow with the HUMLOG Institute in Helsinki, Finland. She previously worked as Lecturer in Logistics and Operations Management at the University of Lincoln, UK. She obtained a PhD in Humanitarian Logistics from Heriot-Watt University, UK. 
Sarah's research interests include pharmaceutical supply chains, disaster relief operations, and supply chain management in developing nations. Her current projects focus on vaccine supply chains, logistics in conflict areas, commercial-humanitarian interactions, and project management. Sarah speaks fluent German. She recently completed secondments with companies in Germany and Switzerland as part of an EU-funded Horizon2020 project. Sarah frequently delivers guest lectures on humanitarian logistics and pharmaceutical supply chains in the UK and abroad. Her recent publications include papers in the International Journal of Operations & Production Management, Annals of Operations Research, and the International Journal of Production Research. She has appeared as a supply chain expert on TV for EuroNews, ITV, Sky, BBC News, and ZDF (Germany), as well as on radio in the UK, Germany, Canada, and Australia.