News
| 06.03.2020

New research project to improve efficiency of response to corona virus outbreak

The HUMLOG Institute at Hanken School of Economics is the co-ordinator of the Horizon 2020 research project Health Emergency Response in Interconnected Systems (HERoS) in connection to the present corona virus (COVID-19) outbreak. The project involves 11 partners from six countries and has a total budget of 2,8 MEUR over three years.

The disruptions of medical supply chains, the lack of capacity to treat patients and the spread of rumours has created uncertainty and mistrust, which hampers an effective response to the corona virus outbreak. The overall objective of the HERoS research project is to improve the efficiency of the response to the virus outbreak. The aim is to provide guidelines for improved crisis governance, with a focus on responders to public health emergencies, and their needs to make informed decisions.

The HUMLOG Institute will contribute to the project with its research and training expertise in the areas of humanitarian logistics and supply chain management, including medical logistics, and the evaluation of supply chain disruptions.

”We at the HUMLOG Institute are very excited about this project and are looking forward to conducting research with immediate value to the incredible health care responders and humanitarian organisations working with this right now. As always, research with a measurable benefit to people requiring assistance is at the core of any project we do”, says Gyöngyi Kovács, professor and principal investigator for the research project.
 

The other research partners in the HERoS-project are:

  • Technische Universiteit Delft and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands
  • The Open University, United Kingdom
  • NHG Consulting, Finland
  • CBK, Space Research Centre of Polish Academy of Sciences, Squadron SP.Z.O.O. and Polish Center for International Aid, Poland
  • Arttic, France
  • Red Cross, Italy
  • People to People Health Foundation, North Macedonia

Horizon 2020 is the biggest EU research and innovation programme ever with nearly €80 billion of funding available over 7 years (2014 to 2020). This initiative is aimed at securing Europe's global competitiveness and a means to drive economic growth and create jobs. This is the first time that Hanken leads a Horizon 2020-project.

More information:

Gyöngyi Kovács
Erkko Professor in Humanitarian Logistics
Phone: +358 40 352 1241
Email: gyongyi.kovacs@hanken.fi