Humanitarian Logistics: Meeting the Challenge of Preparing for and Responding to Disasters and Complex Emergencies

In rapidly developing emergencies, it is vital for aid agencies to understand how to establish an agile supply chain that resists the chaos of a crisis and can cater to unknown needs.

Now in its fourth edition, Humanitarian Logistics presents chapters from a wide range of academics and practitioners and offers cutting edge research into how complex problems such as distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine and provision of relief to victims of natural disasters can be solved. New chapters cover topics such as cash-based humanitarian logistics (HL) systems, sustainability in a HL context and providing logistics services for humanitarian relief.

In recent years, a number of global crises have highlighted the critical role that logistics plays in humanitarian response. There is a vital need to understand how to conduct operations in confused and swiftly changing environments. This book is essential reading for anyone who needs to understand how to effectively manage supply networks during a rapidly developing emergency.

Professor Graham Heaslip is Professor of Logistics Engineering and Head of School of Engineering at Atlantic Technological University, Galway, Ireland. His work in the field of logistics and supply chain management has gained international recognition and has been recognised by Emerald Literati Network Awards for Excellence.


He is a board member of the Humanitarian Logistics Institute (HUMLOG) based at Hanken School of Economics, Helsinki, Finland and is a member of the Editorial Boards of the Journal of Humanitarian Logistics and Supply Chain Management, and the International Journal of Physical Logistics and Supply Chain Management. Prior to entering academia, he spent fourteen years working in the Irish Defence Forces both at home and abroad in a variety of logistical appointments, as well as spending time seconded to Humanitarian agencies in a logistical capacity.