Humanitarian Health Research Partnership 2016 with French Red Cross Foundation

Since 2016, the AXA Research Fund has partnered with the French Red Cross Foundation, which supports francophone research in the area of humanitarian action. Through this partnership, AXA and the French Red Cross Foundation aim to foster academic excellence and innovative thinking to address the evolving challenges faced by humanitarian actors.

The French Red Cross Foundation’s mission is to bring together the scientific community and humanitarian stakeholders to develop forward-looking strategies, rethink humanitarian models, and support the transition of countries from aid dependency to self-reliance. To achieve this, it funds and supports independent francophone researchers — particularly from the Global South — through one-year postdoctoral grants, awarded in the social sciences to address cross-cutting issues in social and humanitarian action.The French Red Cross Foundation’s mission is to bring together the scientific community and humanitarian stakeholders to develop forward-looking strategies, rethink humanitarian models, and support the transition of countries from aid dependency to self-reliance. To achieve this, it funds and supports independent francophone researchers — particularly from the Global South — through one-year postdoctoral grants, awarded in the social sciences to address cross-cutting issues in social and humanitarian actionnThe support of the AXA Research Fund makes it possible to fund annual grants on the theme “Risks, Humanitarian Action and Innovation.” These grants aim to strengthen our understanding of effective humanitarian action in response to major global risks such as epidemics, climate change, migration, natural disasters, and malnutrition, and to anticipate the future of humanitarian response in an increasingly multipolar world.

Researchers supported by the AXA Research Fund in 2016 are working on the following themes:

• Insurance and risks of natural disasters: exploring whether risk transfer mechanisms could provide an alternative to traditional humanitarian aid in Africa.

• Health risks and access to care: analysing post-Ebola health system resilience and the persistent challenges in making essential medicines accessible in the Global South.

• Climate change adaptation: assessing whether local NGOs in the Global South are innovating more effectively than their international counterparts in facing climate-related challenges.

• Humanitarian workforce transformation: questioning the future of the “aid worker” profession in a rapidly changing humanitarian landscape.

Grant structure and awards
In 2016, between one and three postdoctoral fellowships of €20,000 each were awarded for a one-year period. Candidates were selected jointly by the AXA Research Fund and the French Red Cross Foundation through a competitive process open to francophone social science researchers without nationality restrictions, with a focus on target countries in the Global South.

Additionally, two research prizes of €5,000 each were awarded to projects demonstrating innovative approaches to humanitarian challenges and exemplary research trajectories.

Complementary collaboration
Beyond funding, the partnership included skills-based sponsorship between AXA and the French Red Cross Foundation in the following areas: scientific monitoring of fellows, candidate management, laureate tracking, evaluation processes, and legal aspects of research funding in France and abroad.

Research dissemination
The partnership also aimed to promote and disseminate research results through:

• Publications (articles, books, journal contributions)

• Scientific events (roundtables, seminars, workshops)

• Training and coaching in academic writing, funding applications, and multimedia valorisation of research.