François Grünewald

Agricultural engineer from INA-PG and has worked in the humanitarian sector for over 40 years. After working for the UN, the ICRC and NGOs, he set up Groupe URD (https://www.urd.org), a research and evaluation institute specialising in crisis management, humanitarian action and reconstruction.

A former associate professor at the University of Paris XII, he has also taught at various institutions in Europe, Canada and the United States. The author of numerous articles, he has edited several books, including ‘Entre Urgence et développement’ (‘Between emergency and development’), ‘Villes en Guerre et Guerre en Villes’ (‘Cities at War and War in Cities’) and ‘Bénéficiaires ou partenaires: quelques rôles pour les populations dans l’action humanitaire’ (‘Beneficiaries or partners: some roles for local people in humanitarian action’), published by Editions Karthala.

He coordinates Groupe URD’s research work on Ukraine, particularly on energy, access to water, the role of volunteers in humanitarian action and the environment in the context of the war in Ukraine, a subject on which he has carried out numerous studies in other conflicts around the world.