The HumOSCM Lab

What We Do

We apply scientific research to real world supply chains to make budgets go further.

Responsive and smoothly-functioning supply chains are critical success factors for getting the goods and services to the right place at the right time during disaster relief and humanitarian response. Supply chains (including logistics and procurement activity), consume up to 80% of a humanitarian organization’s budget. Improving supply chain strategy and execution directly supports the provision of humanitarian aid and response. Simply put: high-performing supply chains make limited budgets go further to reach more people in need.

How We Do It

Everything begins with a real-life humanitarian challenge, or a research gap.

In our applied research projects, we develop impactful and field-tested solutions, hand-in-hand with humanitarian organisations.

Who We Work With

Support Us

Donors sometimes struggle to find trustworthy recipients of their financial support. ETH now offers them a chance to support world-class humanitarian research.

Want to get involved? Ask us about our Sponsors' Program.

Project Impressions

Our projects address some of the world’s most urgent problems, like pandemic response and distributing supply to war zones.

Examples include our project with Uganda’s Ministry of Health to improve their Logistics Preparedness for Disease Outbreaks.
Within ETH’s Engineering Humanitarian Aid program, our teams are working with the ICRC to improve medical supply in conflict zones.

Enlarged view: Dr. Bublu Thakur-Weigold — Dr. Bublu Thakur-Weigold attends a quantification workshop with national pharmacists in Jinja, Uganda (August 2022).

Enlarged view: Arua — Laura Heuser and Bublu Thakur-Weigold meeting with the District Health Officer and Stores Focal Person in Arua, Uganda close to the borders of DRC and South Sudan (August 2022).

Enlarged view: Project Meeting Uganda — Doctoral researcher Laura Heuser supervises a quantification exercise with district pharmacists in a workshop in Jinja, Uganda (August 2022).

Enlarged view: WFP Training — WFP Workshop in Kampala, Uganda (January 2020)

Enlarged view: Uganda Workshop (2020) — Discussing the results of the HEB Game in Kampala, Uganda (January 2020).

Recent Publications from our Lab

Wagner, Stephan M./Ramkumar, M./Kumar, Gopal/Schoenherr, Tobias (2024): Supporting Disaster Relief Operations through RFID: Enabling Visibility and Coordination, International Journal of Logistics Management, (in press), doi: external page10.1108/IJLM-12-2022-0480
Seifert, Lysann/Kunz, Nathan/Gold, Stefan (2023): Sustainable Innovations for Humanitarian Operations in Refugee Camps, International Journal of Operations and Production Management, Vol. 43, No. 10, pp. 1554-1586, doi: external page10.1108/IJOPM-05-2022-0302
Wagner, Stephan M. (2022): Humanitarian Operations and Supply Chain Management, in: Choi, Thomas Y./Li, Julie/Rogers, Dale/Schoenherr, Tobias/Wagner, Stephan M. (eds.): The Oxford Handbook of Supply Chain Management, New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 55-80, doi: external page10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190066727.013.38
Wagner, Stephan M./Tabaklar, Tunca/Seifert, Lysann (2022): HumOSCM for Pandemic Response, International Journal of Logistics Management, Vol. 33, No. 4, pp. 1366-1385, doi: external page10.1108/IJLM-06-2021-0345
Thakur-Weigold, Bublu/Buerki, Pascal/Frei, Patrice/Wagner, Stephan M. (2022): Mapping the Swiss Vaccine Supply Chain, Frontiers in Public Health, Vol. 10, July, 935400, doi: external page10.3389/fpubh.2022.935400
Wagner, Stephan M./Thakur-Weigold, Bublu/Gatti, Federico/Stumpf, Jonas (2021): Measuring and Improving the Impact of Humanitarian Logistics Consulting, Production Planning & Control, Vol. 32, No. 2, pp. 83-103, doi: external page10.1080/09537287.2020.1712748
Wagner, Stephan M. and Thakur-Weigold, Bublu (2018): Supporting Collaboration in Humanitarian Supply Chains – Insights from a Design Science Project, Production Planning & Control, Vol. 29, No. 14, pp. 1130-1144, doi: external page10.1080/09537287.2018.1542175