Our world is experiencing crises of unprecedented number and scale. Emergencies that relate to health, conflict and the environment are on the rise. Climate change is impacting, adding a new dimension to age-old causes of human suffering such as disease outbreaks and natural disasters. Communal tensions and resource competition, wars and forced migrations, continue to affect many populations.

Crises are increasingly multiple and interconnected, creating highly complex situations for emergency responders to navigate.

When people are caught up in crises, they need responses that are rapid but also are appropriate to their situation. Social science and behavioural insights are essential to inform such responses. The Social Science in Humanitarian Action Platform (SSHAP) provides social science insights and tailored analyses that can be quickly and fully integrated into rapid and locally-informed emergency responses.

Visit the Social Science in Humanitarian Action Platform website

Our mission is to provide evidence on demand, capacity-building and networking spaces on emergencies that relate to health, conflict and the environment. We focus our efforts on exploring the political economy, community engagement, cultural logics, social difference and vulnerabilities of those emergencies. The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated this need to draw on interdisciplinary science and find solutions to address humanitarian emergencies based on strong evidence.

Our vision is emergency responses which are effective, adaptive, contextually informed, and sensitive to vulnerabilities and power relations. Importantly, we look towards a future where all responses are planned in consultation with affected communities and local institutions, and based on social and interdisciplinary science and evidence.

SSHAP is a partnership between the Institute of Development Studies, Anthrologica , Gulu University, Le Groupe d’Etudes sur les Conflits et la Sécurité Humaine (GEC-SH), London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, University of Juba, CRCF Senegal, University of Ibadan and the Sierra Leone Urban Research Centre.

SSHAP is supported by Wellcome (225449/Z/22/Z) and the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, with previous funding from UNICEF.

Download SSHAP Slides

Follow SSHAP on Bluesky

Useful Links:

SSHAP Fellowship Programme – Institute of Development Studies

Mobilising social science for humanitarian action: insights and lessons – Institute of Development Studies

A new mpox emergency declared but the politics of global inequities persist – Institute of Development Studies