Sian White

Sian joined Elrha in 2023 as Director of the UK Humanitarian Innovation Hub, having previously engaged with Elrha as both a grant recipient and technical advisory committee member. She is currently serving as Director of Programmes, overseeing the Humanitarian Learning and Improvement and Humanitarian Futures Programmes as well as the What Works Centre.

Sian began her career in advocacy and communications before completing a Master’s in Public Health and a PhD in Behavioural Science focused on humanitarian contexts. For over 15 years, she has worked at the intersection of humanitarian research, innovation, and programme design-spanning roles in academia and operational organisations. Her thematic expertise includes WASH, infectious disease control, nutrition, health equity, and the scaling of humanitarian innovations. More recently, her work has explored the responsible use of emerging technologies and AI in humanitarian settings. Sian is passionate about harnessing collaborative, problem-led approaches to research and innovation and using these drive meaningful, lasting change across the humanitarian sector.