Science and Technology for Humanitarian Action Challenges (HAC)
Call 3: 17 October 2022 – 18 January 2023 (17:00 CEST)
Information session: 7 November 2022, 13:00 – 14:00 on zoom
Register here
The challenges faced by humanitarian organizations in general and by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in particular are immense. In 2020, almost 71 million people were displaced because of conflict and insecurity, a number not reached since WWII. Extreme climate events, such as floods, storms and droughts, are on the rise, thereby increasing the vulnerability of people already suffering from conflict [1]. The COVID19 pandemic is further jeopardizing the hard-fought gains in access to healthcare and poverty reduction of the past decades. Therefore, EPFL and ETH Zurich are joining forces with the ICRC through the Engineering for Humanitarian Action initiative to explore innovative solutions to such crises.
The goal of the Science and Technology for Humanitarian Action Challenges is to support project-based research between EPFL researchers, ETH Zurich researchers, and the ICRC to develop effective solutions for a greater impact of humanitarian action.
The EssentialTech Centre is the managing office for this call. The EssentialTech Centre is part of the Vice Presidency for Academic Affairs. Its mandate is to harness science and technology to drive sustainable development, support humanitarian action, and foster peace. The Humanitarian Tech Division is one of the three pillars of the EssentialTech Centre, and it specifically seeks to promote science and technology solutions that can support humanitarian action.
The list of awarded projects from the first call for proposals is available here.
[1] Global Humanitarian Overview 2021, UN-OCHA, 2021
ICRC priority areas
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Some of the main issues, priorities and requirements for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) for 2020-2022 can be found in this document. Researchers submitting an application for the Humanitarian Action Challenges are strongly encouraged to review the ICRC priority areas. |
Call deadline
Proposal submissions are possible once per year. The application deadline for the second call for proposals is on 18 January 2023 (17:00 CEST).
Submission platform
Access the submission platform here.
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