Newsletter - October 2019
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With the new academic year, we extend a warm welcome to the 38 new masters students who start this year, and the three continuing students, on the MSc Risk, Disaster and Resilience, MSc Risk and Disaster Science, MSc Space Risk and Disaster Reduction and MRes Risk and Disaster Reduction programmes. We have two new masters modules on offer to them (and other UCL students): Gender, Disaster and Conflict, and Business Continuity Management and Organizational Resilience. We welcome new PhD students Jeremy Reynolds, Salma Al-Adjali, Xiao (Shaw) Han and Myles Harris. These new members will maintain the IRDR PhD student cohort at about 25. We welcome Akkenje Siylkanova from the Institute of Seismology, Kazakhstan, as a visitor. And we are pleased to welcome everyone back to our refurbished space in the South Wing, generously funded by our MAPS Faculty, which has greatly improved our working conditions for staff and students. Masters students now have a much-needed work room for the first time. Research students now have a pleasant light-filled working environment. We have hub space for the whole IRDR. And we can accommodate our continued growth. Finally, we are delighted to announce the promotion of Patty Kostkova and Ilan Kelman to professor, Rob Wicks to associate professor and Punam Yadav to senior research fellow. Congratulations!
We have an exciting new year ahead. The big news over the summer has been the successful progress of the IRDR Centre for Gender and Disaster with their £4.7 million network proposal, Gender Responsive Resilience and Intersectionality in Policy and Practice. The proposal has been led by IRDR research staff, Professor Maureen Fordham and Dr Punam Yadav. It is still subject to the acceptance of their extended impact strategy and data management plan by the award panel. But this award will prove to be transformative, not only for the Centre for Gender and Disaster, but also for their mission of developing awareness of, and responsiveness to, gender in the context of hazard, risk, disaster and conflict. For those interested in this exciting development, please contact the Centre.
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Our proposal for a new IRDR-led cross-UCL BSc Global Humanitarian Studies programme has now gone through all UCL planning approval stages, but is still subject to chair’s action to sign off the final amendments. But we anticipate launching the degree programme in September 2021. This will be transformative for the IRDR as a whole, as we transition from primarily a research and postgraduate institute into a broader department with undergraduate teaching equally prominent. We are partnering with the Departments of Statistical Science and Anthropology, the Institute of Education, the Institute for Global Health, the School of Management and the BASc programme. If you are interested in this development do get in touch with me directly.
We have an exciting year of events ahead, starting with the IRDR Special Seminar and Welcome Reception on Tuesday 8 October from 5.00 pm. Dickie Whittaker, CEO at Oasis Loss modelling framework, will speak on 'The Risk in DRR’. All are welcome to attend. (See Events panel for further details.) We were due to run a masterclass and evening conference on disaster management and earth observation with the University of Kashmir in October. But unfortunately, due to the political situation in India, these will now be postponed to February. The IRDR Centre for digital Public Health in Emergencies is coordinating the 9th International Digital Public Health Conference. And on 26 November in the evening we have the IRDR Alumni and Network Roundtable Dinner, which you are all invited to.
We had a very successful year in 2018-19 which is captured in the IRDR Annual Report. This can be download from the side panel. Highlights included the appointment of two new lecturers, Dr Gianluca Pescaroli as lecturer in Business Continuity and Organisational Resilience and Dr Bayes Ahmed as lecturer in Risk and Disaster Science, and the launch of the new IRDR Centre for Digital Public Health in Emergencies. This year we have a confirmed strategic bid for a new lecturer appointment in Humanitarian Studies (advert out soon). We anticipate further research and professional staff appointments in response to our increasing research income (see Panel on Research Awards). On another note, in what is a young department, with senior staff David Alexander on sabbatical, Joanna Faure Walker on maternity leave, and with myself and other senior staff unwell over the summer, we have had to rely heavily on our early career academic, research and professional services staff. It has been a tough summer, but our colleagues have really stepped up and I wish to thank them publicly.
Reducing the impact of disasters and improving the response to and recovery from disasters are complex challenges that require cross-disciplinary responses. There is much work still to be done. You are most welcome to join us.
Peter Sammonds
Director, UCL Institute for Risk and Disaster Reduction
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Natural hazards such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunami, floods and storms destroy lives and damage economies across the globe; pandemics have the potential to bring death and suffering on an unprecedented scale; while climate change may increase the severity of both natural and health disasters.
How society sees risk, how to link understanding of the causative mechanics to statistical approaches, and how to increase resilience and reduce the risk of disasters are common themes cutting across research in natural, environmental, health and technological hazards.
Reducing global risks and disasters presents a colossal challenge that requires coordinated and collaborative action. UCL is uniquely well-placed to lead research and teaching in risk and disaster reduction, with at least 70 academics across 12 departments and seven faculties involved in world-class research and practice in the field.
To maximise the impact and value of our activities in risk and disaster reduction, and to increase and enhance interdisciplinary collaboration and cooperation, we bring together individual areas of expertise, under the umbrella of a UCL Institute for Risk & Disaster Reduction, built around established centres across UCL including the UCL Grand Challenges.
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Reducing global risks and disasters presents a colossal challenge that requires coordinated and collaborative action. UCL is uniquely well placed to lead research in risk and disaster reduction, with at least 70 academics across 12 departments and 7 faculties involved in world-class research, teaching and practice in the field. The Institute for Risk and Disaster Reduction, responding to the UCL Grand Challenges, brings together this wealth of knowledge and expertise, and through research, teaching and knowledge exchange aims to overcome the barriers to understanding risk and reducing the impact of disasters.
To find out more about risk and disaster reduction research at UCL - or to register your own activity - please visit Our Page. Here you have the option to stay involved through different mailing lists, and to become a member of the Institute.
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