Nagurney organizes conference on humanitarian logistics

Anna Nagurney, John F. Smith Memorial Professor in the Isenberg School of Management, is the organizer of an international conference, “Humanitarian Logistics: Networks for Africa,” which will take place May 5-9 at the Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Center at Lake Como in Italy.

Funded by the Rockefeller Foundation, the conference will bring together academic researchers and human services practitioners who will examine state-of-the-art logistics and supply chain research, experiences from the field in Africa and humanitarian logistics partnerships between the academic community and African nations and relief agencies.

“Logistics networks, in times of crisis, provide the essential infrastructure for the movement of both goods and services,” said Nagurney, who authored the grant proposal that is funding the conference. Goods, she notes, includes water, fuel, clothing, medicines, housing and other basic supplies. Services include relief and medical workers, engineers and technicians, security officials and critical expertise.

“Recent events in Africa, including natural disasters, wars and uprisings, and the spread of disease have presented major challenges for the timely delivery of essentials to needy and suffering populations,” she said. “Our focus on Africa is an urgent response to an ongoing challenge.”

Speakers at the conference will include leading academics from the University of Johannesburg in South Africa, Imperial College in the United Kingdom, INSEAD in France, the Swedish School of Economics and Business Administration in Finland, Georgia Institute of Technology, Auburn University, University of Florida and the University of Connecticut. In addition, representatives from the International Telecommunications Union, World Vision, CARE Kenya and several research organizations will give presentations.

The Institute of International Education is providing travel support to speakers from developing countries based on a proposal written and submitted by Nagurney. In addition, she is using her John F. Smith Memorial Funds to support travel for several academics.

The conference represents the second grant awarded to Nagurney by the Rockefeller Foundation through its Bellagio Center program. In 2004, Nagurney led a two-week research team residency at the center, which brought together three women academics from three countries for the project, “Dynamics of Complex Networks in an Environment of Risk and Uncertainty: Theoretical Foundations and Applications to Global Supply Chain and International Financial Networks.”

More Information

Conference website

April 22, 2008.

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