The unpredictability of global emergencies (e.g., volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, floods) and the stakes of adequate and timely delivery dominate the uniqueness and challenge of managing material flow in the humanitarian relief chain, which holds as its ultimate objective to deliver the appropriate level of resources to locations worldwide in order to minimize human suffering and loss of life. While international large-scale responses to global emergencies are not new, research to understand and improve the relief supply process has received little attention in the literature. This presentation introduces the domain of relief chain management, describes recent and ongoing research projects in this area, and provides directions for future work.