AI Solutions for Humanitarian Challenges

The ‘AI Solutions for Humanitarian Challenges’ initiative is a collaborative effort between the UK Humanitarian Innovation Hub and Elrha’s Humanitarian Innovation Fund (HIF) designed to support the uptake of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies in the humanitarian sector. The program, running from 2023 to 2025, aims to deliver on an integrated programme of funding collaborative partnerships, capacity building, interdisciplinary research and development, stakeholder mapping, knowledge sharing, and advocacy. This will demonstrate and inform effective ways forward for the humanitarian sector.

Partners include various academic and technical experts from University College London and other global institutions. Each partner brings a unique set of skills and resources:

• UCL Consultants: Provide overall support to the project.
• UCL Centre for Humanitarianism and Social Inclusion: Professor Maria Kett will provide overall leadership, technical expertise and research capacity around humanitarian policy, and practice, supported by Dr James Smith.
• UCLIC: Professor Catherine Holloway and Dr Tigmanshu Bhatnagar provide technical expertise and research capacity, particularly around AI.

They are partnering with Dr Davor Orlic, International Artificial Intelligence Research Centre (IRCAI); Dr Stephen Moore, University of Cape Coast (Ghana), Olubayo Adekanmbi and colleagues from the Data Scientists Network Foundation (Nigeria), and Dr Pratisthit Lal Shrestha, Kathmandu University (Nepal).

The team are supported by an advisory group made of leading experts in the fields of AI and humanitarianism. These include Professor John Shawe-Taylor (Chair of Computational Statistics and Machine Learning Director of the Centre for Computational Statistics and UNESCO Chair in Artificial Intelligence); Dr Victoria Austin (UCLIC) and Andrej Verity (AI Transformation Lead at UN OCHA).

UKHIH and HIF will provide funding, strategic direction, and oversight.

The tangible results of the project include:

• A series of AI related scenarios developed to address specific humanitarian challenges identified during the foundational research phase.
• A strengthened capacity of humanitarian organizations in AI adoption through tailored training programs and support.
• A comprehensive report detailing the potential, challenges, and ethical considerations of AI in the humanitarian sector.

Increased collaboration and knowledge sharing among stakeholders in the humanitarian and AI sectors, leading to more informed and effective responses to humanitarian crises.