The role of Higher Education in Disaster Risk Knowledge

Thu, 19 Mar 2015 10:08:00 GMT

Professor Richard Haigh presented ANDROID: An inter-disciplinary European academic network at a key public forum entitled Role of Higher-Education Institutions (HEIs) in advancing disaster risk knowledge and building capacity. The forum was held on 16th March 2015 as part of the UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction. The event was organized by prominent partnerships – AUEDM (Asian University Network of Environment and Disaster Risk Management) and the Periperi-U (an African consortium involving 11 universities). They brought together selected speakers to share their experience of furthering disaster risk-related education in their respective regions.

Other presentations included:

  • Periperi U: Extending connections - Reinforcing resilience Stellenbosch University South Africa
  • Higher education in Environment and Disaster Management: Asian experiences, Prof Rajib Shaw, Kyoto University, Japan
  • Multi-Hazards Program Hub, Dr Christopher Tremewan, APRU, Singapore

The session highlighted the role of trans-disciplinary, multi-sectorial alliances for the advancement of disaster risk knowledge and human capacity development in disaster risk reduction. This event further helped to galvanize academic collaboration and strengthen existing networks of HEIs for advancing disaster risk knowledge and building capacity. It also recognized existing gaps between demand and supply of capacities at local levels, and a need to synergize collective efforts more strategically for filling these gaps through the strength of academic networks. A key outcome of the forum was the launch of an initiative to bring together regional HEI networks as part of a global alliance. GDRC at Huddersfield is set to take a leading role as the European hub of this new global network.

Further details of this event can be found in the ANDROID 2015 Programme

Back to news index - March