Our courses focus on strengthening the competencies of humanitarian professionals. You can select from a wide variety of courses in terms of length, discipline and format, with flexible and modular options to expand your knowledge.
Thematic priorities for our courses are developed in close consultation with the Centre’s academic and humanitarian partners, including ICRC and MSF.
We offer a few residential courses; however, most courses are available online. Every online course includes live sessions two to three times per week via Zoom, in the afternoon (Central European Time), for 2.5 hours. Online courses require 20-25 hours of dedicated work per week. We recommend that participants allow at least 50 per cent of their time for the online courses and adapt their professional work accordingly.
We also offer a free MOOC (Massive Online Open Course): Operational Research for Humanitarians, developed with ICRC and Aga Khan University.
We are currently updating our course offer for 2023, but you can already apply for most of our courses, browse our offer below.
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Master
About this course
1 September, 2023 – 31 October, 2024
BLENDED LEARNING (4 months residential in Geneva, the remainder online)
- Scholarship applications are open until 1 February 2023.
- Early bird 10% discount for fee-paying students available until 1 March 2023.
This Executive Master programme is a unique blended learning postgraduate course on humanitarian action. It provides current and future humanitarian professionals with the managerial, theoretical and practical skills needed to optimize responses to humanitarian crises. The course is delivered in collaboration with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).
Read More ➔https://humanitarianstudies.ch/education/executive-master-in-humanitarian-action/
Diploma
About this course
1 September – 15 December, 2023
Applications deadline Excl. EU/EFTA citizens: 31 May 2023 / only EU/EFTA citizens: 30 June 2023
This 100% residential course in Geneva offers professionals a critical understanding of the humanitarian system and response, learning from history and various other disciplines and an ability to contextualize humanitarian action in today’s world.
Certificate of Advanced Studies
About this course
3 April – 25 June, 2023
Applications deadline: 5 March 2023
Putting accountability at the heart of programming. This certificate addresses the ambition of improving Accountability to Affected People (AAP) within the humanitarian sector.
Read More ➔https://humanitarianstudies.ch/education/accountability-to-affected-people-aap/
About this course
Ongoing: new dates TBC for 2024
This certificate addresses the dynamics and components that guarantee the quality management of adapted projects and cohesive teams. It integrates fundamental principles such as inclusion and diversity, do no harm, accountability and participation into processes, methods and tools of project and people management.
Executive Short Course
About this course
20 February – 24 March 2023
Applications deadline: 5 February 2023
This executive course aims at strengthening the capacities of project managers to design humanitarian responses that focus on sustainable and locally defined changes. The course is based on the Results-Based Management (RBM) approach and provides concepts and tools for each phase of the project cycle.
Read More ➔https://humanitarianstudies.ch/education/humanitarian-project-cycle-management/
Executive Short Course
Addressing Sexual Violence in Conflict and Emergency Settings (Residential Geneva)
➔About this course
6 – 10 March 2023
Applications deadline: 29 January 2023
The objective of this one-week, intensive residential course is to provide mid-level and senior managers with the knowledge and skills required to conceive a multidisciplinary approach to respond to the complex needs of survivors of sexual violence in conflicts and emergencies. The course is delivered in partnership with the International Committee of the Red Cross, Médecins sans Frontières, Refugee Law Project, UNHCR, and independent human rights experts.
About this course
10 – 28 April 2023
Applications deadline: 10 March, 2023
While critically reviewing the current theories and practices of humanitarian leadership and people management, this course aims to ascertain the leadership capacities of participants and situate their preferred management style. In plenary sessions or peer-works, discussions and exercises will question emotional competencies, authority vs authoritarianism, stress management and institutional vision. Licensed coaches, humanitarian professionals and psychologists will accompany participants in an approach that considers the human being in each worker.
Read More ➔https://humanitarianstudies.ch/education/humanitarian-leadership-and-people-management/
About this course
24 April – 5 May 2023
Applications deadline: 2 April 2023
The relationship between aid agencies and international/local media is often ambivalent yet vital for public and operational outcomes. This course aims at exploring the theoretical and practical issues and implications of this challenging relationship.
Read More ➔https://humanitarianstudies.ch/education/humanitarian-reporting-and-media-training/
About this course
8 – 19 May 2023
Applications deadline: 16 April 2023
This training, delivered in partnership with the Centre of Competence on Humanitarian Negotiation (CCHN), focuses on the design of adapted negotiation strategies in humanitarian settings, as well as the development of participants’ self-awareness. It links real situations experienced by participants with the latest concepts around humanitarian negotiation, meaning negotiations aimed at securing access, assistance and protection for civilians facing humanitarian emergencies.
Read More ➔https://humanitarianstudies.ch/education/negotiation-in-humanitarian-crises-2/
About this course
10 May – 5 July 2023
Applications deadline: 19 April 2023
This executive short course aims to provide humanitarian mid-level and senior managers the knowledge, competencies and skills required to conceive and operationalise a multidisciplinary approach to prevention and response of sexual violence in conflict and emergency settings. The course is delivered in partnership with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Médecins sans Frontières (MSF), Refugee Law Project, UNHCR, UNFPA, and independent human rights experts.
About this course
22 May – 2 June 2023
Applications deadline: 30 April 2023
This executive short course focuses on the particular challenges presented by non-communicable diseases in emergencies, as well as the design of adapted and effective projects to address non-communicable diseases. The course is delivered in partnership with the Centre for Global Chronic Conditions at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.
About this course
Dates à convenir.
Cette formation vise à renforcer la capacité des coordinatrices et coordinateurs de projets à concevoir des réponses humanitaires qui ambitionnent des changements durables et définis localement.
Le cours est basé sur les approches de la « Théorie du Changement » et de la « Gestion Axée sur les Résultats ». Des outils incontournables, tels que l’arbre à problèmes ou le cadre logique, sont adaptés de manière à transférer ces approches dans le champ opérationnel.
Read More ➔https://humanitarianstudies.ch/education/gestion-du-cycle-project-humanitaire/
About this course
5 – 16 June 2023
Applications deadline: 14 May 2023
This online course addresses two main competencies related to advocacy in the humanitarian sector. The first relates to the critical analysis of the definition and dynamics of advocacy for humanitarian assistance. Then, it introduces participants to the methodology that composes an advocacy plan. The course will focus on operational advocacy specifically so that programme managers can learn how to address operational needs and field constraints in the organisation’s advocacy strategy.
About this course
19 – 30 June 2023
Applications deadline: 28 May 2023
Based on the book published by Professor Blanchet, “Applied Systems Thinking for Health Systems Research'”, the primary purpose of this intensive executive short course is to familiarize participants with a health systems approach to healthcare for communities in low and middle countries affected by humanitarianism crises.
About this course
3 – 14 July 2023
Applications deadline: 11 June 2023
This executive short course has a dual objective to build students’ practical skills to design, implement and monitor projects using Cash and Voucher Assistance (CVA) and develop their critical and reflexive skills on the topic of cash and voucher assistance.
About this course
4 – 15 September 2023
Registration opens: 1 February, 2023 / Applications deadline: 13 August 2023
This executive short course is an intensive training given by academic staff and humanitarian practitioners, focusing on Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) in humanitarian crises, using specific methods and tools.
About this course
18 – 29 September 2023
Registration opens 1 February, 2023 / Applications deadline: 27 August 2023
The aim of the course is to provide a general introduction to the protection of civilians, with a focus on conflict and post-conflict environments. It provides insight into both theory and practical realities and applies critical thinking on concepts, principles and professional practices most common amongst protection actors in humanitarian or peace operations.
Read More ➔https://humanitarianstudies.ch/education/protection-of-civilians-in-armed-conflicts/
About this course
2 – 13 October 2023
Registration opens 1 February, 2023 / Applications deadline: 10 September 2023
This course aims to understand how essential it is to integrate a planetary health lens and strategy into humanitarian action. Its programme reviews how human-caused changes disrupt natural ecosystems, causing climate change, air and water pollution, biodiversity loss, disruption to our food production system, and changing patterns of diseases.
Read More ➔https://humanitarianstudies.ch/education/planetary-health-2023/
About this course
16 – 27 October 2023
Registration opens 1 February, 2023 / Application deadline: 24 September 2023
From crowd-sourced data used to create crisis mapping to the expansion of drones to facilitate relief distribution, humanitarian innovations capture a large diversity of digital and technological creations meant to improve the efficiency of humanitarian assistance during disasters, conflicts and migration. Exploring the entanglements between neoliberal actors, innovation labs, “tech for good”, data management and humanitarian governance allows questioning the opportunities and challenges of such innovations beyond the “tech utopia”.
About this course
November 2023
Applications deadline to be announced
This online training, delivered in partnership with the Centre of Competence on Humanitarian Negotiation (CCHN), focuses on the design of adapted negotiation strategies in humanitarian settings and the development of participants’ self-awareness. It links real situations experienced by participants with the latest concepts around humanitarian negotiation, meaning negotiations aimed at securing access, assistance and protection for civilians facing humanitarian emergencies.
Read More ➔https://humanitarianstudies.ch/education/negotiation-in-humanitarian-crises-nov-23/
About this course
November 2023 (residential in Entebbe, Uganda)
Applications deadline to be announced.
The objective of this residential course in Entebbe, Uganda, is to provide mid-level and senior managers with the knowledge and skills required to conceive a multidisciplinary approach to respond to the complex needs of survivors of sexual violence in conflicts and emergencies. The course is delivered in partnership with the International Committee of the Red Cross, Médecins sans Frontières, Refugee Law Project, UNHCR, and independent human rights experts. This course session focuses on East Africa and targets participants based or working in the region.