About Us - MIT Humanitarian Supply Chain Lab

Understanding and Improving Supply Chains to Meet Human Needs

Resilience

Modeling, Measuring, and Mitigating Supply Chain Risk

Working across public and private sector to build a robust understanding of supply chains before disruption to minimize impacts in a crisis. Central to this is facilitating connection and engagement among supply chain stakeholders through regular outreach and workshops, where we aim to foster collaborative planning and pre-disaster coordination in the face of wicked problems. In 2025, we are excited to pilot our ‘Supply Chain Resilience Co-Op”, a trusted space for adaptation and advocacy.

Housing

Systems-Based Research for the Future of Housing

Systems-level research on factory-built and off-site construction methods, working closely with builders, government, and policy stakeholders to identify operational constraints and policy opportunities for post-disaster housing delivery. Our aim is to translate insights from roundtables, research, and field assessments into specific policy recommendations and scalable, industry-ready solutions that speed recovery and strengthen resilience.

Health

Equipping Health Systems for the Next Disruption

By combining spatial data, supply chain metrics, and local health infrastructure insights, we help health systems proactively shore up resilience and enable health networks to anticipate shortages, reroute critical supplies, and maintain essential care when disruptions occur. From predictive diagnostics to real‑time resource allocation, our goal is to provide health systems the tools to become crisis‑ready before disaster strikes.

Emergency

Lab to Field: Accelerating Disaster Supply Chain Solutions

Supply chains are the critical link in delivering life-saving supplies during crisis triggered by events such as natural disasters, conflict, and disease outbreak. Our emergency response research happens in the days and weeks after a disruption occurs, aiming to rapidly identify critical supply chain bottlenecks and failures and highlight potential levers that public and private sector can pull to restore the movement of critical goods to the people who need them most. This work builds on and is informed by our ongoing resilience work.