The ICRC’s Centre for Operational Research (CORE) and its Policy Unit straddle the academic/policy/practitioner divide, ensuring that research is ethical, rigorous and feeds directly into operational and policy decision-making.
The ICRC undertakes operational and policy research that creates new knowledge and/or uses existing knowledge to generate new concepts, methodologies, and understandings that contribute to evidence-based decision making and advancing the ICRC's operational and policy priorities. It consists of a systematic inquiry that combines ethical and rigorous scientific research methods with operational experience and needs.
Research themes include: understanding the drivers of armed group behavior and how to influence it to comply with international humanitarian law; increasing knowledge of the lived experiences of people caught up in armed conflict and violence; strengthening the effectiveness of humanitarian responses; and exploring the ethical questions that arise when trying to alleviate suffering while minimizing the unintended negative consequences of aid.
All research undertaken by or on behalf of the ICRC must receive approval from the ICRC’s Ethics Review Board (ERB) for research. The ERB ensures that risks to research participants, researchers and the ICRC’s reputation are mitigated or minimized before research starts.
The ERB is made up of internal and external members with expertise in a diverse range of disciplines. Having an ERB has also facilitated the publication of ICRC studies in peer-reviewed journals such as this study on access to ante-natal services for pregnant women in south and central Somalia.
