FRRHH Welcome The Humanitarian & Conflict Response Institute (HCRI) as Newest Organisation Member

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The Faculty of Remote, Rural and Humanitarian Healthcare are delighted to announce our newest Organisation Member, The Humanitarian and Conflict Response Institute (HCRI).

Based at the University of Manchester, HCRI is an international leader in research and teaching in the humanitarian field. Its’ inception was triggered by a recognition of the need for practitioners and academics to share closely their experiences, with one informing the other. It is currently leading a major international research programme into attacks on health care RIAH – Researching the Impact of Attacks on Healthcare (manchester.ac.uk) and as a cross medical and humanities institute brings a wide range of valuable experience to the faculty.

‘HCRI is founded on a history of creative collaboration and innovative partnerships that advance the study of humanitarian health and the implementation of disaster response. Through our membership of the FRRHH, we hope to continue this tradition with you’ - Dr Adele Aubrey, Head of Institute Operations and Partnerships, HCRI

Under the iconic leadership of Dr Rony Brauman (President of Médecins sans Frontièrs, 82 – 94), HCRI was founded in 2008 as an interdisciplinary research institute at University of Manchester, bringing together colleagues from medicine, history, development studies, and beyond. Read about HCRI’s history.

Since then, it has grown to become one of the most significant institutions for teaching and research about humanitarian response in the world, delivering a wide range of courses (such as the intercalated BSc in Global Health), novel research collaborations, and unique partnerships with government and non-governmental organisations (NGOs). Its online and in-person courses, including continuing professional development options, are listed here.

 

Worldwide collaboration

Together with UK-Med, an NGO that deploys clinicians and health professionals to support international emergency medical response, HCRI has responded to disasters and epidemics across the world. Examples of HCRI research to improve humanitarian healthcare are interviews with victims of the earthquakes in Sichuan, China in 2008 and Haiti in 2010 (see below).

This partnership has helped the institute contribute to a novel configuration for research and teaching, bringing together practitioners, researchers, theoreticians, and policymakers in sustained intellectual engagement. Read more about the HCRI – UK-Med partnership.

HCRI also has longstanding collaborations with NGOs such as Save the Children, the Red Cross and the Mines Advisory Group (MAG). Together with the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), HCRI has formed a unique partnership to deliver a hybrid programme that is educating the next generation of humanitarians.

In 2016, HCRI became a collaborating centre of the World Health Organization (WHO).

 

The Impact of HCRI in Haiti

An example of HCRI’s collaborative approach with operational organisations came when UK-Med responded to the 2010 earthquake in Haiti. Following this, HCRI sent out a French and Creole-speaking research team, in collaboration with (then named) Handicap International, to do semi-structured interviews with survivors of the earthquake who had received treatment. This found that within organisations like UK-Med, the Red Cross and MSF, the amputation rate was about 7% – which is normal for experienced surgical teams after earthquakes. However, within inexperienced teams the rate went up to 85%, as they did not have the skills to do limb salvage repair on site.

Ultimately, this led to the establishment of the WHO Emergency Medical Teams (EMT) Initiative, where those who apply must be registered specialists within the field of emergency medicine, ensuring the timeliness and quality of health services provided by international EMTs.

Later, the research of Dr Anisa Jafar, an emergency physician and HCRI PhD graduate, on medical record-keeping in sudden onset disasters provided the basis of the data protocols now used by WHO’s EMTs. Read more about Anisa’s work here.

 

Teaching Humanitarian Health

Bringing together medicine, humanities, and social science, HCRI offers a wide range of degrees and courses with global impact.

These include:

• Undergraduate degrees, such as the International Disaster Management and Humanitarian Response BSc and the Global Health BSc (for intercalating medical students) - here
• Taught masters, include online programmes in an MSc in Global Health, MSc in Humanitarian Practice, and in-person courses such as the International Disaster Management MSc - here
• A range of online courses such as Continuing Professional Development, a ‘Massive Open Online Course - MOOC’, and the LEAP programme for workers in humanitarian organisations - here
• PhD programmes for students from a wide range of disciplinary backgrounds - here

 

Multidisciplinary research

HCRI has a multidisciplinary team of academic staff, including clinical academics, and long-standing international research partners, bringing different perspectives on humanitarianism, global health, and conflict response. Read about HCRI’s research.

This year, HCRI won a £1.5 million Welcome Discovery Award to pursue a new project on the history of humanitarian healthcare titled ‘Developing Humanitarian Medicine: from Alma Ata to Bio-Tech, a history of norms, knowledge production and care (1978-2020)’ - Read here.

In 2021, HCRI and UK-Med collaborated with Save the Children on a joint research project called ‘Sounding the Siren’ - Read here. Funded by the DEC, this was a study into the impact of climate change on humanitarian response work, bringing together the experiences of aid workers and presenting its findings at the global climate summit, COP26.

HCRI is currently a partner on the UK FCDO-funded ‘Researching the Impact of Attacks on Healthcare’ project, which seeks to better understand the nature, frequency, scale, and impact of attacks on healthcare in conflict through improved data collection and analysis - Read here.

 

Future collaborations

HCRI is keen to work with members of the Faculty of Remote, Rural and Humanitarian Healthcare as potential research partners, as an educational provider, and joint work towards our shared mission of improving healthcare in challenging contexts.

To find out more about HCRI, visit the website at: https://www.hcri.manchester.ac.uk/.

"What stands out for me since joining HCRI is the unique opportunity it has given me to work with a huge range of professionals from a really wide range of disciplines, including medical humanities, anthropology, history and development studies, as well as the opportunity to develop close relationships with humanitarian and development organisations from the local to international level." – Dr Darren Walter, Senior Lecturer In Emergency Global Health, HCRI

“I’m delighted that HCRI is able to support and partner with this new Faculty to promote stronger connections between clinicians in humanitarian healthcare and humanitarian researchers, including opportunities for our students as well as other mutual learning and education opportunities that we anticipate will arise in future from this relationship.“ – Professor Larissa Fast, Professor of Humanitarian and Conflict Studies and Executive Director, HCRI

Watch the video about the founding of HCRI, with Prof Tony Redmond OBE

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