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How we help Universities

Why ELRHA matters

"Researchers care about what they research and what happens to the outcome of their life's work. We all wish to be able to answer the question "So what?"with a demonstration that, even in some small way, we have contributed to the common good. Working with ELRHA matters for Universities because it gives us an opportunity to see how our research and our skills in training may be translated into action for the immediate benefit of humankind.

It isn't just altruism, however. One of the main funders of research in international development, DFID, has made quite clear that any research it funds must "answer questions useful to policymakers" and "help reduce poverty or the impact of poverty". Working with ELRHA will help Universities keep their feet firmly on the ground, and ensure that we address real world issues and communicate in a way that allows the uptake of our research and skills, so helping us to access funds made available for these purposes".

Steve Cannon, Secretary of Aberdeen University)

Serving the Higher Education community

The UK Higher Education (HE) sector is already very active in the humanitarian field. There are research centres specialising in disasters, there are courses at bachelor and master’s levels, there are academics and non-academics who deploy to disaster-hit areas in the immediate aftermath, and those who make contributions at a later stage, either in the field or desk-based in the UK. However, while there is a lot of expertise and motivation to support the humanitarian endeavour, contacts and coordination with humanitarian organisations are often more difficult to make. ELRHA seeks to support the higher education community to overcome this by providing:

  • An online research matching facility
  • Funding advice for research and training projects
  • Contacts and advice on working with humanitarian agencies
  • Real-time case studies for taught courses
  • Advice on the content and relevance of taught courses for the humanitarian sector
  • Small grant funding opportunities for collaborative projects
  • Coordination of research under core challenges , through seminars, workshops and papers
  • Good practice Case studies

Benefits to the sector:

ELRHA hopes to make it easier for the higher education community to work in partnership with the humanitarian community by facilitating communication and research opportunities with the humanitarian organisations, highlighting the core challenges and research needs of the humanitarian sector, thus enabling universities to tailor their research and teaching to have an applied value within the field. We also hope to provide advice on course content and development for the humanitarian sector and clarify career pathways to for students hoping to entre the humanitarian profession.