alt text  Go to Newsroom

Prof. Maria Besiou wins Humanitarian Logistics Award

Maria Besiou

KLU Dean of Research Prof. Maria Besiou has been honored with the 2022 American Logistics Aid Network’s (ALAN) Research and Academic Contribution Award for her work researching and teaching humanitarian logistics. Established in 2017, the ALAN Humanitarian Logistics Awards honor organizations and individuals committed to “Saving Lives Through Logistics”.

In presenting Prof. Besiou the award, ALAN – a philanthropic organization that provides free logistics assistance to disaster relief organizations – acknowledged her more than 13 years’ commitment to humanitarian logistics research “as well as the thought leadership she has contributed to causes such as the Global Logistics Cluster.”

The organization extolled Prof. Maria Besiou’s work as the Academic Director of the KLU and HELP Logistics joint Center for Humanitarian Logistics and Regional Development (CHORD), which has recently entered in innovative research fields such as environmental sustainability in humanitarian operations and new supply chain collaborations amongst humanitarian actors. The 10 years she has spent teaching one of the few graduate level humanitarian logistics courses worldwide was also praised.

"I am very proud to receive the American Logistics Aid Network’s (ALAN) Research and Academic Contribution Award for the work that I have been doing,” said Prof. Besiou. “I owe a big thanks to all my coauthors, collaborators, and humanitarian organizations that I have been working with and of course to KLU, HELP Logistics and the Kühne Foundation for their trust. When I started working on humanitarian logistics research 13 years ago with Luk Van Wassenhove and Alfonso Pedraza-Martinez at INSEAD, I had never thought how exciting this sector is and what huge impact evidence-based research can have."

Speaking of the 2022 winners, ALAN Executive Director Kathy Fulton said: “These outstanding honorees are living, breathing examples of what selfless logistics is all about. We’re truly are in awe of the wonderful work they have done, and we are proud to recognize them today.”

About The Humanitarian Logistics Awards: Established in 2017, ALAN’s Humanitarian Logistics Awards recognize companies and individuals who exemplify the best that the supply chain has to offer by assuring that aid is rapidly delivered to communities in crisis.  Presented annually, they are open to any logistics professional, organization or department. 

About ALAN: Founded in 2005 in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, ALAN is a philanthropic, industry-wide organization that provides free logistics assistance to disaster relief organizations before, during and after catastrophic events. It does this by bringing the expertise and resources of the logistics industry together with humanitarian organizations so that help can arrive sooner, and each relief dollar can be maximized. Over the years it has coordinated compassionate supply chain services for natural disasters including hurricanes, wildfires, tornadoes and floods.

More information: