4th ISCRAM Summer School for emergency management improvement

on Humanitarian Information Management and Logistics

THE HAITI EARTHQUAKE

August 17 - 26 2011 Tilburg, the Netherlands

http://iscram.org/live/summerschool2011

Application Deadline: June 1st 2011

Objective The objective of the ISCRAM Summer School on Humanitarian Information Management and Logistics is to provide participants with an intense interactive learning experience on the use of information management to logistics decisions, logistics collaboration and coordination in humanitarian crisis response. The program of the Summer School consists of a week of in-depth lectures, case workshops, dinner talks, as well as a great social program. All lectures are taught by experienced international experts in the areas of humanitarian crisis management, information systems and logistics. The participants work in small groups and interact with the experts throughout the Summer School. The language of the Summer School is English.

Over the years, close to 100 students from over 20 different countries and 40 lecturers from international universities and organisations have participated in previous editions of the Summer School. Previous editions of the ISCRAM Summer School were rated very highly by the participants.

Organizers and Foundational Partners The 2011 ISCRAM Summer School is an initiative of the ISCRAM Association, an international non-profit organization, formally established in Belgium in 2009, which aims to:

● Promote research and development, exchange of knowledge and deployment of information systems for crisis management. Both the social, technical and practical aspects of all information- and communication systems used or to be used in all phases of management (mitigating) of emergencies, disasters and crises are treated.

● Promote and facilitate cooperation between all parties involved in this domain, including researchers, practitioners and professionals, technical experts and other experts, policy makers, involved in the management or evaluation of emergency conditions, disasters and crises.

For this 4th edition of the Summer School, the ISCRAM Association has partnered with two academic institutions and selected international organisations to further develop the international reach and impact of the summer school. The two academic partners are Tilburg University (the Netherlands) and University of Lugano (Switzerland), respectively in charge of the humanitarian information management and the humanitarian logistics research aspects of the program. The international partners of the ISCRAM Summer School are UN OCHA (Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs), the European Joint Research Center in Ispra (Italy), the Institute of Disaster Prevention in Beijing (China), the ICT4Peace Foundation, the Global Risk Forum (GRF) in Davos, the SAHANA Software Foundation, and the Belgian First Aid and Support Team B-FAST. The 2011 edition of the Summer School is hosted by Tilburg University on its campus in Tilburg.

Summer School Program

Summer School theme : the Haiti Earthquake The 2010 Haiti earthquake was a catastrophic magnitude 7.0 earthquake, with an epicentre near Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capital. The earthquake occurred at 16:53 local time (21:53 UTC)

on Tuesday, 12 January 2010. An estimated three million people were affected by the quake; the Haitian government reported that an estimated 316,000 people had died, 300,000 had been injured and 1,000,000 made homeless.The government of Haiti also estimated that 250,000 residences and 30,000 commercial buildings had collapsed or were severely damaged.

The earthquake caused major damage in Port-au-Prince, Jacmel and other settlements in the region. Many notable landmark buildings were significantly damaged or destroyed, including the Presidential Palace, the National Assembly building, the Port-au-Prince Cathedral, and the main jail. The headquarters of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), located in the capital, collapsed, killing many, including the Mission's Chief. Many countries responded to appeals for humanitarian aid, pledging funds and dispatching rescue and medical teams, engineers and support personnel. Communication systems, air, land, and sea transport facilities, hospitals, and electrical networks had been damaged by the earthquake, which hampered rescue and aid efforts; confusion over who was in charge, air traffic congestion, and problems with prioritisation of flights further complicated early relief work. As rescues tailed off, supplies, medical care and sanitation became priorities. Delays in aid distribution led to angry appeals from aid workers and survivors, and looting and sporadic violence were observed. A few days before the first anniversary of the quake, Oxfam published a report on the status of the recovery. According to the report, relief and recovery are at a standstill due to inaction from the government and indecision on the part of the donor countries. The report states, "One

year on, only five percent of the rubble has been cleared and only 15 percent of the required basic and temporary houses have been built. House building on a large scale cannot be started before the enormous amount of rubble is cleared. The government and donors must prioritize this most basic step toward helping people return home". According to a January 2011 UNICEF report, "Still today more than one million people remain displaced, living in crowded camps where livelihoods, shelter and services are still hardly sufficient for children to stay healthy". The Interim Haiti Recovery Commission was set up in April 2010 and led by former US President Bill Clinton and Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive to facilitate the flow of funds toward reconstruction projects and to help Haitian ministries with implementation. As of January 2011, no major reconstruction has started. On the 12 January 2011 anniversary of the earthquake, Haitian-born Michaëlle Jean, who served as the Governor General of Canada at the time of the disaster and who was installed as Special Envoy for Haiti for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on 8 November 2010, voiced her anger at the slow rate of aid delivery, placing much of the blame on the international community for abandonning its commitments. In a public letter co-authored with Irina Bokova, the head of UNESCO, Jean said, "As time passes, what began as a natural disaster is becoming a disgraceful reflection on the international community." At the Summer School, we will reflect on the international humanitarian response and on the current (lack of) recovery. In particular, we will focus on the role of information management and logistics during these phases.

Lecturers at the Summer School Lecturers at the summer school represent a diverse range of expertise from academia, research organisations, governments, and NGOs. We can already confirm lectures from Tom de Groeve (JRC Ispra), Paulo Goncalves (University of Lugano), Simon French (Manchester University, UK), Jaap van de Herik (Tilburg Univeristy, the Netherlands), Geert Gijs (B-Fast, Belgium, Peter L.J. Bos (Chief USAR the Netherlands), and Jules Pieters (WHO). Other speakers are being confirmed, and all biographies, lecture topics and other updates will be posted on the iscram.org website. The 2011 ISCRAM Summer School Program Directors are Dr. Paulo Goncalves (University of Lugano, Switzerland) and Dr. Bartel Van de Walle (Tilburg University, the Netherlands).

Dr. Paulo Goncalves Dr. Bartel Van de Walle

Who should attend? The target audience for the Summer School is both PhD students and experienced Practitioners to attend the 2011 ISCRAM Summer School.

● Students in PhD programs in Information Systems, Computer Science, Organization Research, Management Science, Supply Chain Management and Operations Research or in other fields with research interests related to crisis management are eligible for nomination. The nominee should have completed course work, developed a dissertation proposal and preferably have completed one year of dissertation work with one year remaining (at the time of the summer school) before completion.

● Practitioners and full-time professionals active in the humanitarian sector. The Summer School is particularly interested in humanitarian practitioners with significant field experience looking for possible ways to improve their day-to-day practices through the use of frameworks that formalize and extend the practical competence they already possess.

All participants will gain insights from information systems and logistics for crisis response and management with excellent opportunities to discuss their work with other researchers and practitioners. Ample opportunity will be provided for social activities during the Summer School. The Summer School is intended to be an intellectually and socially stimulating environment, and expected to result in active networking long after the summer school is over.

Benefits from attending Participants will gain insights in the use of information systems and logistics for crisis management. All participants will be stimulated to interact and discuss their work with the lecturers, as well as among themselves. Interactions between PhD students and practitioners

will be explicitly encouraged. At the Summer School, participants are expected to work in groups whose tasks include:

● analysis and discussion of relevant humanitarian crisis situations;● study the role of information management, information systems and logistics in these

situations;● exercising, gaming and role playing;● use of dedicated crisis management and logistics software.

Ample opportunity will be provided for social activities during the summer school. Some impressions from the previous summer school in 2009 are given below:

How to apply Participation is by invitation only, following evaluation of applicants’ credentials. Applications are invited by June 1st 2011 according to the instructions described below. Admission will be limited to 30 participants in total. PhD students (in one of the relevant PhD programs described above) should have completed course work and developed a dissertation proposal. Ideally, they should have completed one year of dissertation work with at least one year remaining (at the time of the summer school)

before completion. Humanitarian practitioners should have at least one year work experience in humanitarian response and should possess a university degree. Applications based on significant professional experience will be considered.

Important Dates:

● June 1 2011: Application deadline ● June 15 2011: Notification of nomination acceptance/rejection ● June 30 2011: Registration deadline ● August 17-26 2011: 2011 Summer School

Instructions for application: Please send to the Summer School Program Committee (email address: summerschool2011@iscram.org) the following three documents before Sunday June 1, 2011: 1. A two page document in which you should describe your research or work experience, as well as why you are interested in the theme of the Summer School and indicate the relevance of the theme to your research or work, 2. A Curriculum Vitae, 3. For PhD Students: a formal nomination letter: PhD students must be formally nominated by the chair of the student's department, or any other faculty member who is familiar with the student's research (e.g. Ph.D. program director or thesis advisor). Practitioners must be nominated by their organisation. A letter of nomination (with your institution’s or employer’s official letterhead) should include the following:

● The title of your PhD dissertation or current position in your organisation;;● Information on the nominating faculty member or superior: name, address,

department/institution, email address, phone and fax numbers. All applicants will be evaluated by the Program Directors and applicants will be informed of acceptance by Wednesday June 15 2011. Upon acceptance of your application, you will be asked to complete your registration by Thursday June 30, 2011.

Location The Summer School is organized on the campus of Tilburg University. With a population of nearly 200,000 inhabitants, Tilburg is the Netherlands' sixth largest city and is located in the South of the country, close to the Belgian border, in the Province of ‘North Brabant’. Tilburg University is nicely situated in a forested area on the outskirts of the city. Tilburg University is a

relatively small and internationally oriented university with around 12,000 students in total and 750 international students from 65 countries. The university is internationally renowned for its research, especially in economics through the international research institute CentER.

Tilburg University campus Tilburg in the Netherlands

Schedule, costs and accommodation All participants are expected to attend the entire duration of the Summer School, although per day registrations are allowed for local practitioners. A Certificate of Attendance will be delivered at the end of the Summer School. The cost of participation for the 2011 Summer School is 600 EURO (750 EURO after the registration deadline). This registration fee will cover all lunches, dinners and coffee breaks and materials provided for the lectures or cases. Wireless internet access will be provided for the duration of the summer school for free. Please note that travel expenses are not covered by the registration fee, and neither are accommodation costs. A special hotel rate has been negotiated with Hotel De Postelse Hoeve in Tilburg, which is the dedicated hotel for the Summer School. The rate per night in a standard single room is 83 Euro and for a double room 105 Euro, breakfast included. Rooms have to be paid upon checkout.

Local Organizing Committee The local organizing committee for the 2011 ISCRAM Summer School consists of Jan Otten, Janneke Liebregts - van Maarle, and Paul Pattynama. Please contact the Organizing

Committee via email at summerschool2011@iscram.org.

Jan Otten (Chair) Janneke Liebregts - van Maarle

Paul Pattynama