At the forefront of humanitarian research

Whether caused by violent conflicts or natural disasters, humanitarian crises raise fundamental questions about ethics, law, sovereignty, and foreign policy. With the collective expertise of our three partner institutions, the NCHS aims be at the forefront of  humanitarian research to inform humanitarian related policy, practice and debate.

The key objectives of the NCHS are to:

• Communicate and disseminate humanitarian research
• Facilitate discussion on humanitarian issues and events
• Deliver expert advice and analyses for humanitarian actors
• Build a network of humanitarian scholars and practitioners, across Norway and internationally

With a focus on collaboration

Norwegian governmental and non-governmental actors are important actors on the humanitarian stage, and humanitarian principles are central to Norwegian foreign policy. Yet there is little public knowledge of and debate about humanitarian issues in Norway and Norwegian research on humanitarian issues was fragmented. It is against this backdrop that CMI, NUPI and PRIO came together to establish the NCHS in 2012.

The NCHS also established a Research Network on Humanitarian Efforts to bring together scholars, practitioners and policy makers working on humanitarian related issues and to better connect research on humanitarian efforts across Norway and internationally.

The Research Network was funded by the Research Council of Norway’s NORGLOBAL program from 2019 to 2023.