As a follow-on to the semi-annual meeting of IRDR’s governance body, the Scientific Committee, IRDR China hosted more than 27 Ph.D. students and assistant professors working in various disaster risk areas for a capacity building workshop focused on integrated disaster risk research.

Salvano Briceno, Irasema Alcántara Ayala, Susan Cutter, David Johnston (all members of IRDR’s Scientific Committee) and veteran FORIN pioneer David Smith Wiltshire explained IRDR’s main disaster risk research tracks and explained the crucial importance of integrating difference academic disciplines in a disaster risk focused research program. 

Then the 27 selected students each briefly presented their own research interests. Workshop faculty (Johnston, Smith Wiltshire, and Alcántara Ayala) divided the students into three groups and gave them a scenario / perspective to operate from. One group represented farmers, another local government bodies, and another the scientific community. Students worked in groups but over the two days rotated to work within each different perspective. Then each group took the podium representing one perspective and answered questions from the audience about their plans and proposals. The workshop ended with a debrief about the experience itself and the impact of having to work from several different perspectives.