Developing Humanitarian Medicine (DHM) is a five-year research project conducted by a group of researchers based at the Humanitarian and Conflict Response Institute at The University of Manchester. The project is on the history of humanitarian medicine as a set of emergency interventions and seeks to generate significant shifts in understanding its scientific and organisational specificity and role in developing clinical norms, debating ‘rights-based’ approach to health access and leading campaigns for access to drugs while deploying bespoke biotechnological tools.

This history will inform humanitarian practice and contribute to ongoing debates on how humanitarian medical providers engage with pharmaceutical and biotech industries to disseminate, repurpose, and research drugs and diagnostic tools. The project builds up from patient-centred clinical norms and concerns on care to experimental initiatives in humanitarian setting and state-led norm-setting diplomacy through emergency medical teams (EMTs) initiatives.

We place the use and preservation of historical records at the heart of humanitarian practices and transform the way that researchers and practitioners deploy evidence from the very recent past.

The project started in September 2023 and has a duration of 5 years. The project is funded by the Wellcome trust (226515/Z/22/Z).