EWB-UK Rapid Research Response Secondment Programme

The project seeks to overcome the problematic communications and general structural barriers of engagement between humanitarian organisations and higher education institutes. It is widely recognised that without opening these lines of communication the likelihood of academia responding to the needs of the humanitarian sector is greatly diminished. In addition to this, the most relevant knowledge generated at the academic level will not reach the humanitarian sector, where it has the most potential to be put to practical use. Traditionally the higher education response to humanitarian needs has been limited to the actions of individual academics, often motivated by personal desire, rather than addressing the research demands of humanitarian organisations.

Objective and aim:

The two-fold aim of the research programme is to provide high quality research projects to students who wish to pursue engagement in development and disaster relief whilst creating a research product which is relevant to the humanitarian sector.

This interaction will be facilitated and maintained through the creation of the EWB-UK Rapid Research Scheme. The scheme will redirect PhD student capacity to contemporary problems that require timely attention and, through this engage them in contemporary humanitarian issues.

Specific aims are:

• To improve the response times of research projects
• To direct the researcher's focus more directly to the needs of the project
• To ensure the research product is more accessible in nature by requiring seconded researchers to produce an output specified by the humanitarian organisation
• To improve the quality of research. The students' time conducting research must be similar to a 'term in industry' scheme, offering students a professionalised experience to ground their academic pursuits while at the same time offering a service of value to the 'industrial partner', in this case a Humanitarian Organisation

Project Outcomes:

In the first instance the project will create a comfortable inlet for humanitarian organisations to engage with institutions of higher education. It will also create a model for future interaction whereby a new flexibility becomes normalised for academic institutes, allowing them to work on different timelines with a clear understanding as to how this can fit around ongoing PhD research work without negatively impacting upon it. The project will also create the opportunity for students to use their skills in a new context, improving the quality of research training they receive.

For academic institutions more broadly, these research projects will allow universities the chance 'to get their feet wet' with projects that might be outside the departments' immediate comfort zone.

Project Outputs:

Fundamentally, this project will create a model of interaction between higher education institutes and humanitarian organisations that can be easily replicated.

Practically, seconded students will produce project research projects
which will be delivered to the humanitarian sector partner in an accessible format.

Please click here to download the final report

Please click here to find out more about the project partners