Cecilie Hestbaek

Cecilie leads Elrha’s Humanitarian Innovation Fund (HIF) programme, which supports problem-led, responsible and impactful humanitarian innovation.

Cecilie has over a decade of experience working with research and innovation across the private, public and voluntary sectors. Before joining Elrha in 2016 she advised charities and funders on evidence, strategy and innovation at UK think tank and consultancy NPC, and prior to this she worked with environmental technology innovation in Denmark. In her time with Elrha, Cecilie has been part of doubling the HIF’s size and shaping the programme’s focus on technical problem areas alongside the testing of systems approaches to building innovation skills and capacity in the humanitarian system.

Cecilie is particularly interested in how humanitarian innovation can become more responsive to the needs of people affected by crisis and how it can become a vehicle for participation and accountability in the sector.