From Saturday, 18 May to Thursday, 23 May 2013, representatives from the Integrated Research on Disaster Risk (IRDR) programme were in Geneva, Switzerland to attend the Fourth Session of the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction. The event was held at the International Conference Centre in Geneva, Switzerland, under the theme: Invest Today for a Safer Tomorrow. Resilient People – Resilient Planet.
In addition to participating in two of the Global Platform’s events in the form of an IGNITE Stage presentation and panel member in a featured event, the IRDR also conducted its 9th Science Committee (SC) meeting in conjunction with the Platform from Saturday, 18 May to Monday, 20 May.
IRDR’s 9th Science Committee Meeting
In conjunction with the Global Platform, the IRDR held its 9th Science Committee (SC) meeting from Saturday, 18 May to Monday, 20 May. Day one of the meeting was a closed session while days two and three were open to attendees from the wider Global Platform to join the meetings and find out more about the IRDR programme through interactions with the SC members in the meetings and browsing relevant IRDR materials on display.
IRDR on the IGNITE Stage
On Wednesday, 22 May, the IRDR, represented by Executive Director, Dr Jane E. Rovins, delivered a presentation about the IRDR programme on the Global Platform’s IGNITE Stage. The IGNITE Stage is a special venue where selected Global Platform participants are allowed 15 minutes to present a disaster risk reduction topic, project or initiative, thus widening the array of topics discussed beyond those presented during the Global Platform’s main sessions and events.
The topic of the presentation, “Linking science to policy for disaster risk management,” explained the basis of the IRDR research programme: the need to comprehensively integrate hazard and risk reduction sciences into policy, recovery and development processes to produce results that can be easily understood by practitioners and policy-makers alike.
An estimated 60 persons made up the audience, who listened attentively to a description of the IRDR research programme and its intended outcomes. Additional materials were distributed to the audience to complement what they learned via the presentation.
The PowerPoint and video of the presentation can be downloaded from and viewed at the Global Platform’s website here: http://www.preventionweb.net/globalplatform/2013/programme/ignitestage/view/442.
IRDR’s Participation in Featured Event: Applying Science and Technology to Policy and Practice in DRR
Also on Wednesday, 22 May, at 3:00 p.m., the IRDR participated in the featured event, “Applying Science and Technology to Policy and Practice in DRR.” Dr David Johnston, Chair of the IRDR SC, represented the programme on the five-member panel. His presentation, a much shorter version of that presented by Dr Rovins on the IGNITE Stage, provided the audience— consisting of an estimated 500 persons—with a synopsis of the IRDR programme, briefly describing the programme’s research objectives and its four projects.
While no questions were specifically asked about the IRDR programme, Dr Johnston responded to general questions concerning the application of science to policy-making.
The other members of the panel were (as pictured, seated left to right): Mr Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, Head of Data, Information and Public Relation in Indonesia’s National Agency for Disaster Management; Mr Agostinho Ogura, Director of the Centre of the Secretaría Nacional de Defesa Civil in Brazil’s Ministry of Science and Technology (missing); Dr Walter Ammann from the Global Risk Forum; Prof Virginia Murray, Head of Extreme Events and Health Protection in the United Kingdom’s Public Health England; and Prof Takashi Onishi, President of the Science Council of Japan. The panel was moderated by the Hon Saber Chowdhury, Member of Parliament in Bangladesh (seated left of Dr Ammann).
For additional information contact the IRDR at connect@irdrinternational.org.
