Research Services · England
We are the Developing Humanitarian Medicine (DHM) project — a five-year initiative (2023–2028) based at the Humanitarian and Conflict Response Institute (HCRI) at the University of Manchester, funded by the Wellcome Trust. Our team of interdisciplinary researchers is exploring how humanitarian medicine has developed as a form of emergency intervention. We are interested in how it has helped shape clinical norms, supported rights-based approaches to health access, and driven innovation through the use of bespoke biotechnologies in crisis settings. Through case studies ranging from patient-centred care to experimental field initiatives and state-led emergency medical teams (EMTs), we aim to understand how humanitarian medicine has influenced both global health practice and diplomacy. We work closely with NGO partners such as Médecins Sans Frontières’s CRASH to ensure our research speaks directly to current challenges in the field. Together, we are looking at how humanitarian actors engage with pharmaceutical and biotech industries to research, adapt, and deliver essential tools like drugs and diagnostics. In partnership with The University of Manchester Library, we also focus on the development of humanitarian archives. This includes collecting and curating physical and digital materials from individual humanitarians and small NGOs; creating a digital archiving toolkit for contemporary practitioners; and preserving the project’s own research outputs, including oral histories. By placing historical evidence at the heart of our work, we hope to reshape how the recent past is used to inform more effective, ethical, and reflective humanitarian responses.