Aim: to improve health outcomes for people affected by humanitarian crises by strengthening the evidence base for public health interventions.
Our globally recognised research programme focuses on maximising the potential for public health research to bring about positive change in humanitarian response and helps inform decision making in humanitarian response.
Since it was established in 2013, we have funded more than 100 research studies across a range of public health fields, bringing together researchers and humanitarian practitioners to undertake vital research.
We have launch eight ‘Open Calls’ for research that addresses specific or multiple public health issues by gathering evidence with the potential to contribute to improved public health outcomes in humanitarian contexts. We have launched a further four ‘Responsive Calls’ that aim to fund rapid research, usually 3-12 months in length, to inform response to an unforeseen health crisis in real-time.
In 2022, we launched our first thematic calls for proposals. This funding mechanism enables us to launch research funding calls focused on specific health themes or approaches. This will help to build bodies of evidence in thematic areas, responding to identified research gaps and priorities.
R2HC has supported over 100 humanitarian health research projects since 2013. This collection of Impact Case Studies showcases the successes and learnings of different research projects.
The WASH in crises research agenda serves as a guide for researchers, humanitarian practitioners and funding agencies, providing a prioritised list of research questions that, when answered, will contribute to improved WASH policy and practice in humanitarian crises. This work was commissioned by Elrha, conducted by researchers at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and Tufts University.
Recognising the diverse MHPSS needs in humanitarian settings, and the growth in delivery of MHPSS programmes, efforts have been taken to refine a research agenda that is responsive to the needs of different population groups as well as the humanitarian practitioners providing services. Following a first research priority setting exercise conducted in 2011 (Tol et al, 2011), Elrha commissioned a second review in 2021 to establish an MHPSS research agenda for the next ten years.
Recognising that a significant body of humanitarian health research has been published in the last 10 years, we commissioned our flagship publication: An Evidence Review of Research on Health Interventions in Humanitarian Crises: 2021 Update (HHER2), in collaboration with Johns Hopkins Centre for Humanitarian Health.
Our R2HC Research Portfolio gives an overview of the studies we have supported through our Research for Health in Humanitarian Crises programme. Through our R2HC programme, we aim to improve health outcomes for people affected by crises by strengthening the evidence base for public health interventions. Since 2013, we have funded over 60 research studies across a range of public health areas. We work to maximise the potential for research to achieve change and transform the effectiveness of humanitarian response.
There will be no funding calls in 2023. For more information see an update on our plans for this year.
If you’d like to know when we launch a new funding opportunity you can sign up to our newsletter or follow us on X (Twitter).
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