Humanitarian Supply Chain Design and Management

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In this proposal, I focus on applied problems arising in decision making related to humanitarian supply chain (HSC) design and management. Effects of climate change and political conflicts, combined with population growth, are putting more people at risk of being impacted by disasters. HSCs have to be deployed because the damages caused by disasters are often beyond the coping capacity of the affected communities, therefore substantial national and international aid is required to support people in need. Logistics problems lie at the heart of the most important issues faced in the humanitarian sector. Planning and executing relief operations is hindered by incomplete information, leading to decision making under uncertainty. Unfortunately, HSCs sometimes have negative consequences on local economies and vulnerable populations, which is not accounted for in operations research. Taking these particularities into account will lead to both noteworthy scientific contributions and sustainable solutions to mitigate the impacts of disasters and strengthen development projects. The main research question of my research program is "how to analyze imperfect information and address uncertainty to design and manage HSCs?". To answer this question, I apply a general methodological framework combining data analysis and optimization to support evidence-based decision and policy making. The methodological framework will be tested and validated on real--life problems, identified in collaboration with my field partners, related to three important classes of humanitarian network design and management problems: 1) collaborative preparedness networks, 2) food aid supply chains, and 3) emergency evacuation networks. The research projects of my program aim to tackle practical complex problems and to develop innovative methodological approaches that will advance knowledge and contribute to science. One of the objectives of this research is to provide state-of-the-art tools and good practices that can be used in the humanitarian sector all over Canada and elsewhere. This research will benefit decision makers, and ultimately the beneficiaries through better service level and access to aid. It will allow for more efficient HSCs both in terms of operations effectiveness (i.e., adequate relief items availability, faster transportation, strengthen operational capacity) and cost reduction. This implies that more people will be relieved after a disaster. My current network of collaborations allows me to have a privileged access to the data, knowledge of the challenges encountered in practice and a validation field for the developed solving approaches. Finally, students that will participate in this research will gain experience in collaborating with partners. They will acquire expertise in both research and practice that will be of great assistance in their professional development.