ETH Medal awarded to Loretta Berger
Loretta Berger, a recent graduate from ETH Zurich’s MAS program in Management, Technology and Economics and forensic specialist at the Schwyz Cantonal Police, received the ETH Medal for her master thesis on Supply Chain Management in Humanitarian Forensic Action.
Loretta wrote her master thesis at the ETH Humanitarian Operations and Supply Chain Management Lab, in close cooperation with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), one the lab’s research partners, as well as with other actors in Humanitarian Forensic missions.
The thesis investigates characteristics and challenges of supply chain management for forensic missions in a humanitarian context. While forensics are at the heart of humanitarian action and (among other things), support the identification of victims, they pose unique challenges to the organizations that manage such missions. The special nature of some items reduces the number of potential suppliers worldwide, while other items may be broadly available in international markets. Organizations need to accommodate this variability, even as comparably low demand for forensic items can reduce internal priority and management attention. Loretta discusses these specific challenges and considers potential solutions for humanitarian organizations. The continued interest shown by the organizations and specialists involved in her study demonstrates the practical relevance of her thesis project.
For her study, Loretta was awarded the ETH Medal, which is presented every year in recognition of excellent master and doctoral theses.
We congratulate Loretta on the successful thesis and the award!