Summer Academy 2012 on Social Vulnerability: From Social Vulnerability to Resilience - Measuring Progress toward Disaster Risk ReductionKey information:
Date:
01 – 07 July 2012
Location:
Historic Hohenkammer Castle (Schloss Hohenkammer) nearby Munich
Chair of the 2012 Summer Academy:
Prof. Susan Cutter, Carolina Distinguished Professor and Director, Hazards & Vulnerability Research Institute, Department of Geography, University of South Carolina
Accepting applications until 31 January 2012 We invite qualified PhD students who have an interdisciplinary focus and are working on research or dissertations related to measuring social vulnerability and resilience in the context of disaster risk management to apply for the 2012 Summer Academy. Most participants are expected to be graduate or post-graduate students. PhD students would be ideally in their second or third year of research. However, a few places will be reserved for practitioners who wish to take a step back from their operational work to engage with young researchers on this strategic issue. Applications of outstanding GIS-experts are also welcomed. Applications are required to be submitted via email: summeracademy@ehs.unu.edu no later than January 31, 2012.
Purpose
The Summer Academy is designed to bring PhD students together with senior United Nations University and Munich Re Foundation scientists, international experts, and reknown academic professors to facilitate the mutual exchange of research and scholarship on climate change and social vulnerability. The 2012 program will invite a group of outstanding students from graduate programs around the world to participate with experts in measuring progress towards disaster risk management.
From Social Vulnerability to Resilience:
Measuring Progress toward Disaster Risk Reduction
Over the last decade, the scientific research community has developed exemplary conceptualizations of social vulnerability to hazards and disasters ranging from root causes, to underlying drivers, to differential impacts. Many of these were embodied and further explored in the Summer Academy programs. In moving from theory to practice, indicators and benchmarks need development as a means for assessing achievement and monitoring progress towards disaster risk reduction; goals and actions outlined in the Hyogo Framework for Action.
The 2012 Summer Academy will address some of the methodological challenges in measuring social vulnerability and resilience. Because hazards and disasters are place-specific, it will focus on the hazards of places and examine a number of empirically based approaches for measuring disaster risk (hazard exposure, losses, and social vulnerability). Many of these approaches use geographic information systems (GIS) methodologies as the integrating tool, so the Academy will include tutorials on GIS and its use in hazard vulnerability assessments.
Learning Objectives - To have students interact with some of the primary developers of vulnerability assessment metrics to better understand their strengths and weaknesses.
- To introduce students to the differing methodological and empirically-based approaches to hazard vulnerability assessment currently in use.
- To become conversant in the use of GIS and its application to social vulnerability assessment and resilience.
- To develop a prototype hazard vulnerability assessment for their home region/country.
- To train students understand policy frameworks and how to translate science into practical processes.
Further information
Please download the announcement and the application form in the download section to obtain detailed information about the Summer Academy 2012 and the application process.
25 November 2011 |