Humanitarian Action Fellowship (HAF)

Call open on a rolling basis

The challenges faced by humanitarian organizations in general and by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in particular are immense. In 2023, according to UNHCR, more than 110 million people were displaced because of conflict and insecurity, a number not reached since WWII. Extreme climate events, such as floods, storms and droughts, are on the rise, thereby increasing the vulnerability of people already suffering from conflict [1]. The COVID19 pandemic is further jeopardizing the hard-fought gains in access to healthcare and poverty reduction of the past decades. Therefore, EPFL and ETH Zurich are joining forces with the ICRC to explore innovative solutions to such crises with the Engineering for Humanitarian Action initiative, hosted by ETH for Development (ETH4D)/EssentialTech Center (ETC) and the ICRC.

As part of the initiative, the goal of the Science and Technology for Humanitarian Action Fellowship is to explore joint research ideas between EPFL, ETH Zurich and humanitarian actors or to support humanitarian partner organizations to pilot, use or scale research findings.

The EssentialTech Centre is the managing office for this call. The EssentialTech Centre is part of the Vice Presidency for Academic Affairs. Its mandate is to harness science and technology to drive sustainable development, support humanitarian action, and foster peace. The Humanitarian Tech Division is one of the three pillars of the EssentialTech Centre, and it specifically seeks to promote science and technology solutions that can support humanitarian action.

[1] Global Humanitarian Overview 2021, UN-OCHA, 2021

ICRC priority areas

Scope

A Humanitarian Action Fellowship is meant to:

• Explore ideas for future research collaborations between ETH/EPFL and ICRC
• Pilot, adapt technologies or support the ICRC to use or scale results or technologies from research.

Main eligibility criteria

• The fellow should be either a PhD student, a post-doctorant or a scientific staff/assistant with a salary lower or equal to PostDocs from the EPFL and have the endorsement of their Professor/supervisor.

• PhD students can apply at any time during their PhD.

Available budget

• HAF funding covers 70% of the salary of the fellow. The remaining 30% must be provided by the research group of the applicant. PhDs and PostDocs will be paid according to their ETH/EPFL salaries.

• HAF funding can cover project related travels or field visits on a case-by-case basis.

Application toolkit

• Please read carefully all documents available in the application toolkit to prepare your application.
• If you still have questions, have a look at the FAQs of the call here.

Submission platform

Access the submission platform here.