Closing the UKHIH chapter: Integration into Elrha

The UK Humanitarian Innovation Hub has joined Elrha.

Between 2020-2026, UK Humanitarian Innovation Hub (UKHIH) operated as a pilot initiative focused on building partnerships and advancing new approaches to innovation in humanitarian response. On topics ranging from food security and responsible AI adoption to accurate mortality estimation, UKHIH has striven to connect expert communities to respond more coherently to crises. By doing this, it has strengthened collaboration across the sector and supported ideas aimed at improving humanitarian effectiveness.

From pilot to integration

Having been hosted by Elrha since its inception, UKHIH’s full integration into our organisation takes effect from 1 April 2026. This transition brings together UKHIH’s expertise with our wider research and innovation programming, creating a more coherent and sustainable model for delivering impact.

The integration is intended to enable closer collaboration across programmes, strengthen the connection between research and practice, and build a stronger evidence base to support long-term transformation in humanitarian response.

A sector under pressure

This transition comes at a time of significant uncertainty across the humanitarian sector. Shifting funding landscapes and reductions in aid budgets are placing increased pressure on organisations worldwide, prompting a need for more coordinated and evidence-driven approaches.

Within this context, Elrha’s next chapter reflects an effort to respond to these challenges while maintaining a clear focus on impact.

Continuity of ambition

While the structure of UKHIH is changing, the ambition behind its work remains consistent. The knowledge, partnerships and learning developed through UKHIH will continue to inform our strategic direction, helping to shape future priorities and strengthen the role of evidence in addressing complex humanitarian challenges.

Throughout the transition, teams across both UKHIH and Elrha have committed to maintaining transparency and working closely with partners, ensuring that the relationships built over recent years remain central to future work.

Looking ahead

The integration doesn’t signal an endpoint, but an evolution. It reflects a shift towards a more unified approach to humanitarian innovation that draws on combined expertise, strengthens collaboration, and seeks to deliver lasting change in an increasingly complex global environment.

Where you can find UKHIH's work

Systems Innovation Partnerships (SIPs)

• Mortality estimation in humanitarian crises
• AI solutions for humanitarian challenges
• Geospatial data to support humanitarian decision making
• Technology to strengthen humanitarian surgical capacity
• Artificial intelligence
• Vaccine delivery in humanitarian settings
• Collective crisis intelligence for frontline responders
• Emerging technology
• Satelitte technology for humanitarian decision making

Responsive Fund - General

• Guiding Action in Reduced Funding Landscape - Contextualised Humanitarian Prioritisation Data for Improved Impact

Responsive Fund - Syria

• Mercy Corps: Crop-ID
• Piloting Longitudinal Monitoring of Displacement Intentions to Understand Drivers of Movement and Improve Data Integrity
• Syria Area Based Analysis (SABA)

Rapid Response Research

• Adaptive learning for humanitarian impact: harnessing real-time tacit knowledge
• Afghanistan strategic learning initiative
• Navigation Syria's humanitarian crossroads
• Adaptive learning for humanitarian impact: harnessing real-time tacit knowledge
• ICVA: NGO collective support in sudden onset and scale up emergencies
• CHL: Lebanon diaspora humanitarian research network
• Gisa Group: Sudan emergency response rooms open-source humanitarian fund management platform
• Priorities for humanitarian system reform in Bangladesh
• Humanitarian surge capacity
• Navigating ethical dilemnas in humanitarian action
• Somalia capacities in response to crises
• Humanitarian capabilities in Cholera response
• Turkey and Syria earthquake
• Pakistan floods
• Ukraine crisis
• Afghanistan strategic learning initiative

Collaboration

• Mapping humanitarian research and innovation capacity