Ankara Yıldırım Beyazıt University

Lean humanitarian supply chain and logistics to ensure resilient and efficient food distribution in humanitarian disasters and emergencies

10 - 13 September 2017, Hilton Dalaman, Dalaman, Turkey

Context and Background

Turkey currently hosts more than 2.5 million Syrian refugees. The displacement of vulnerable people has resulted in a situation underpinned by shortages of quantity, quality and diversity of food products. Aid efforts are also severely impacted by the complexity of coordination and cooperation across stakeholders involved in food supply and distribution systems. As such there is a dire need to find new methods and solutions to improve effectiveness and efficiencies in providing resilient and efficient food distribution in such contexts.

This workshop seeks to address the food supply challenges faced by Turkey in terms of providing a vulnerable and growing refugee population with humanitarian aid. By bringing together both experienced and early career researchers over a four day workshop, the organisers aim to meet the following objectives:

• To explore the nexus of humanitarian logistics and food supply chains in the context of vulnerable and displaced peoples
• To identify the benefits and risks of adopting lean practices to mitigate humanitarian / food supply chain challenges (and in the context of vulnerability assessment)
• To explore the dynamics of multi-agency stakeholders across the civil-military partnership boundary
• To identify a practical toolkit to address gaps in the humanitarian / food supply chain and identify more effective ways to identify bottlenecks
• To allow Turkey to be more resilient in handling sudden shifts in food-related complex emergencies and any resulting spikes in demand;
• To highlight future research opportunities in the area.

Participants will explore these and related issues via the use of cause-effect models to identify linkages in the food aid chain as well as identifying collaboration paths, management of multiagency stakeholders and logistical support and delivery mechanisms. This will be achieved via interactive sessions allowing participants to share knowledge, experience and ideas through:

• Keynote lectures by workshop coordinators and mentors
• Research sessions where early career researchers can share their current research through poster/oral presentations
• Mentor-led overviews of the research base, links with organisations and funding opportunities;
• Field visit or excursions to stakeholder organizations to understand the challenges on the ground
• Invited talks from supply chain stakeholders to explore cross-chain collaboration
• Opportunities for networking to allow researchers to interact and explore opportunities for collaboration
• In workshop and post-workshop dissemination

The organisers would like to invite Early Career Researchers from the UK and Turkey to apply to attend this workshop. Further details are provided below.

Background and Eligibility criteria

This research workshop is being conducted under the “Researcher Links” scheme, funded by the Newton Fund and in collaboration with the British Council and the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK). It offers an excellent opportunity for early career researchers from the UK and internationally to interact, learn from each other and explore opportunities for building long-lasting research collaborations.

As such for this workshop event, early career researchers will have the opportunity to present in the topical area in the form of a short presentation. They will be able to discuss this with established researchers from the UK and partner countries with a focus on building links for future research collaborations. Participants will be selected on the basis of their research potential and ability to build longer term links.

In order to attend, participants should adhere and make note of the following:

• Participants must be early career researchers: Early Career Researchers are defined as holding a PhD (or having equivalent research experience) and having up to 10 years post-PhD research experience. They are equivalent to the ‘Recognised Researcher’ and sometimes ‘Experienced Researcher’ categories in the EU frame work for researchers’ careers. Please see the following for specific definition of this criteria:

http://ec.europa.eu/euraxess/pdf/research_policies/Towards_a_European_Framework_for_Research_Careers_final.pdf

• Participants must have a research or academic position (a permanent post, research contract, or fellowship etc.) at a recognised research institution either in the UK or in Turkey
• Please note that participants are expected to attend all sessions of the workshop
• Applications must be submitted using the provided application form and be received the deadline of 15^th May 2017

In assessing applications, the experience and relevance of the applicant’s research area to the workshop will be taken into account as well as motivation and contribution to the aims of the workshop. It is also expected that applications will be able to describe the long term impact expected through the participation in the workshop including dissemination activity of the workshop’s outcomes.

Venue, travel and organisation details

The workshop is being coordinated by a team of researchers led by Dr Manoj Dora (Brunel University London, UK) and Dr Tunç Medeni (Ankara Yıldırım Beyazıt University, Turkey). In addition, four leading researchers will be facilitating, mentoring and steering the outcome of the workshop:

The workshop will be held at the Hilton Dalaman, in Turkey: http://www3.hilton.com/en/hotels/turkey/hilton-dalaman-sarigerme-resort-and-spa-DLMHRHI/index.html

All travel and accommodation expenses will be covered by the “Researcher Links” programme including travel (both international and local travel within Turkey), accommodation and meals. Costs for the visa will be covered; however participants will be responsible for making all the necessary arrangements. Although this cost will not be covered by the British Council, participants are encouraged to purchase an adequate travel and medical insurance. The British Council accepts no responsibility for any problems which may occur when the participants are in-country.

Equal Opportunities

Equal opportunities and diversity are at the heart of the British Council’s cultural relations ambitions. While recognising that some research fields are dominated by one particular gender, co-ordinators are encouraged to work towards an equal gender balance, promote diversity. They must not exclude applicants on the basis of ethnicity, gender, religious belief, sexual orientation, or disability. Participants’ selection undertaken by workshop organisers must not contravene this policy. Extra support to enable participation of Early Career Researchers with special needs will be given.

Application Deadline and notification of results

The full application form must be completed and submitted by to the event organisers ( manoj.dora@brunel.ac.uk and  tuncmedeni@gmail.com) by the deadline date of 15 May 2017. You can download the application form here. 

Applicants will be notified by email 2 months prior to the workshop.