In recent years, the academic research of humanitarian action has gained traction on the international scene as a well-defined and distinguished discipline. Humanitarian action research involves new disciplines such as decision-making models, humanitarian innovation, international law, and many others, which addressed alongside core humanitarian issues such as the management of health care, logistics, sociology, migration and welfare.

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The emergence of humanitarian action research has led to the establishment of independent research centers, alongside research centers within leading academic institutions, such as Johns Hopkins University, Harvard University, Oxford University, and UCL. At the same time, academic writing on these issues has also been gaining momentum, and is being published under an independent research field in well-established journals such as The Lancet in the medical field, and the Journal of Migration Studies, published by Oxford University. New, designated journals, such as the Journal of International Humanitarian Action (JIHA), the Journal of Humanitarian Affairs, the Journal of International Humanitarian Legal Studies and others, were founded alongside the expansion of this research field as an independent discipline. 

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Given this growth, the Lucien Research Center relies on the experience of the Center researchers on the ground, as well as on its reputation and its research and academic experience. Integrating humanitarian workers’ know-how and hands-own experience with the academic capacity of understanding phenomena and theories offers a powerful viewpoint when conducting and developing applied research in the field of humanitarian action. Hands-on experience allows to identify issues and gaps which may be mitigated through scientific research, in a way that will contribute to the daily operations of humanitarian action, and may improve humanitarian response in the future.