A Brief Report on the 5th Global Summit of GADRI: Engaging Sciences with Action
Held Intercontinentally and Virtually from 13:00 hours UTC, 31st August to 16:00
hours UTC, 1st September 2021
The Global Alliance of Disaster Research Institutes (GADRI) - https://gadri.net/ conference,the 5th Global Summit of GADRI under the sub-theme of Engaging Sciences with Action washeld virtually and regionally from 31st August to 1st September 2021.
http://gadri.net/summit/
This year’s Global Summit of GADRI was attentive to the necessary influence of the GlobalAlliance and its supporting regional Alliances on bringing the disasters research to bare on
the outcomes of the UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) COP26 taking
place in Glasgow, UK from 2 to 12 November 2021. The 5th Global Summit of GADRI
recommendations, facilitated through the UK Alliance of Disaster Research, was presented at
the COP26. GADRI will further submit the conference recommendations at the UNDRR
Global Platform for DRR: From Risk to Resilience: Towards Sustainable Development for
All in a Covid-19 Transformed World to be held in Bali, Indonesia from 23 to 28 May 2022.
The 5th Global Summit of GADRI was opened by Prof. Paul Kovacs, Chair, Board ofDirectors of GADRI and followed by a video message from Ms. Mami Mizutori, Special
Representative of the Secretary-General for DRR, UNDRR, Switzerland; and the greetingsfrom the Secretary-General of GADRI, Prof. Hirokazu Tatano.
The first Plenary Session on the topic of Systemic Risk and Current Action was covered byMs. Loretta Hieber Girardet, Chief, Risk Knowledge, Monitoring and Capacity-Development
Branch, United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR); COVID-19 and otherhazards – Science into Action was delivered by Prof. Virginia Murray, Head, Global Disaster
Risk Reduction, Public Health England (PHE), UK; and the Lessons of COVID-19 for
Systemic Risk Governance: Recycling Sustainability and Resilience was delivered byProf. Ortwin Renn, Scientific Director, Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS),
Germany. The session was chaired by Prof. Kaoru Takara, Professor and Dean, Graduate
School of Advanced Integrated Studies (GSAIS) in Human Survivability (Shishu-Kan),
Kyoto University.
The Opening Ceremony and the Plenary Session I was logged in by about 334 people fromaround the world.

The regional session on Americas covering North and South America was onCurrent Situation of Science Collaborations in Hazards DRR. The session
was opened by Dr. Guirong Grace Yan, Director, Center for Hazard Mitigation andCommunity Resilience, Missouri University of Science and Technology.
Keynote speech on Multidisciplinary Modeling Progress and the Role of Community
Engagement in Resilience Planning was delivered by Prof. John W. van de Lindt, Colorado
State University & Center for Risk-Based Community Resilience Planning. USA; and Board
Member, GADRI Board of Directors.

The following four topics for panel discussion sessions were selected by the North American
Alliance of Hazards and Disaster Research Institutes (NAAHDRI). The four sessions weredivided to two parallel sessions, i.e. I and III and II and IV.
I. Enabling Resilience: Preventing Disasters in Hazard-Prone Areas
What goal do we want to achieve? The goal is to enable resilience by preventing
natural hazards from becoming disasters
II. Reducing Barriers for Scientists and Engineers to Enhance Resilience
How to achieve the goal by developing innovative approaches?
III. Innovative Approaches in Disaster Resilience
How to reduce barriers in implementing the developed approaches?
IV. Equitable Resilience: Addressing Social Justice in Disasters
How to upgrade “resilience” into “equitable resilience” in order to reduce hazard
impacts on marginalized populations?
The Americas session was coordinated by Prof. John van de Lindt, Dr. Guirong (Grace) Yan,
Dr. Jamie Kruse, Prof. Lori Peek, and Prof. Paul Kovacs and brought in 25 experts in various
disciplines from all over the region to do a 10–15-minute presentation and engage indiscussion with the audience for 30-80 minutes.
The Americas time zone session was covered within six hours and about 377 participantsfrom all over the world logged in via zoom meeting.

The second Plenary Session on How to Engage Science in the Decision-Making Process
within National Governance and Relate Science into Action? – was covered by four keynotespeakers.
• Mobilizing science for disaster risk reduction and development safety - a decade questof IRDR delivered by Prof. Qunli Han, Executive Director, International Programme
Office of Integrated Research on Disaster Risk (IRDR-IPO), China• Disaster Risk Reduction in Small Nations delivered by Dr. Selwyn Mahon, American
University of the Caribbean School of Medicine, Sint Maartens• Non-regret climate change adaptation with a paradigm-shift of the water-related
disasters delivered by Prof. Eiichi Nakakita, Director, Disaster Prevention ResearchInstitute (DPRI), Kyoto University, Japan; and• Finally a video message by Ms. Emilia Saiz Carrancedo, Secretary-General, United
Cities and Local Governments (UCLG), Spain
This session was chaired by Prof. Charles Scawthorn, Visiting Researcher, Univ. California
at Berkeley and Principal of SPA Risk LLC.

Asia and Oceania regional session covered the topic on Engaging Scienceswith Action: Voices from Asia and Oceania
The session was opened by four keynote speeches.
• Open Synthetic Systems, Haruo Hayashi, National Research Institute for Earth
Science and Disaster Resilience•An introduction of the first national comprehensive disaster risk survey project ofChina, Yang Saini, Beijing Normal University• Using science to support decision-makers to reduce risk from natural hazards events:
some examples from Aotearoa New Zealand, Gill Jolly, GNS Science• Engaging Science with actions: A case for EEW in India, M. L. Sharma, SAADRI
Programme Adviser
The opening session was chaired by Prof. Toshio Koike, Executive Director, InternationalCentre for Water Hazard and Risk Management (ICHARM) under the auspices of UNESCO,Japan; and Member of the GADRI Board of Directors.
The four-panel sessions on the following topics were held in parallel in two parts.
I. Regional Alliances: Improving collaboration to support global stakeholders on DRRand DRM• Introducing current and existing alliances; and Introducing Viewpoints:
Suggestions for Improvement –• What should we do to encourage youth to engage in education?
II. Target E - Disaster Risk Governance and Contribution for Policy Making• Progresses and challenges of DRR policies• Potentials of Scientific knowledge for DRR policies
III. Contributions to Climate Change Adaptation- To create a roadmap for Universities and Research Centres in support of theclimate change research agenda- To list measurable contributions of the Asia and Oceania Region towards theCOP26.
IV. Implementation of Sciences in Action• Implementation Science in DRR
The panel discussion session brought in 32 experts in various fields of specialisation topresent their arguments and to engage in discussion with the audience.
The session was wrapped up by each group chair with the session achievements andrecommendations.
The Asia and Oceania time zone session was covered within six hours and was attended bynearly 140 participants from around the world.

The regional time zone session on Europe with Africa and the Middle-East wason Exploring solutions to Bridge the Gaps for Implementation of Science inAction.
This session was coordinated by Prof. Jörgen Sparf, Regional Organising Committee,
Associate Professor in Sociology and a founding member of the Risk and Crisis ResearchCentre, Mid Sweden University, Sweden; Prof. Andrew Collins; Disaster and Development
Network, Northumbria University, UK and Dr. Tom De Groeve, Deputy Head of Unit,
Disaster Risk Management Unit, European Commission, Joint Research Centre (EC-JRC),
Italy.

The session opened with two keynotes by Dr. Tom De Groeve, Deputy Head of Unit,
Disaster Risk Management Unit, European Commission, Joint Research Centre (EC-JRC),
Italy on Engaging Sciences with Action: Results from the first five years of the Sendai
Framework; and Prof. Nico Elema, Director, PeriPeri U, Stellenbosh University International,
South Africa on Exploring solutions to bridge the gaps for implementation of Science inAction. Keynote session was chaired by Prof. Andrew Collins, Northumbria University, UK.
Migration in Africa is a huge issue. People migrate for various reasons. Often due to various
challenges faced in life and it is something that needs to looked at in the future. Anotherimportant challenge is refugees. How African countries handle refugees. Many initiatives
are in the process
Following four topics were identified for the panel discussion sessions.
I. Bridging the Collaboration Gaps: Integrating DRR and CCA for a Science in Action
AgendaII. Bridging the knowledge Gaps: Exploring solutions for Transforming Data into Action
III. Bridging the Science-Policy Gaps: Contextualising Governance to Explore
Opportunities for Action
IV. Bridging the Generational Gap: Catalysing Science in Action by Youth Engagement
The panel presentation and discussion brought in 16 specialists including the Deputy Head,Adaptation Unit, European Directorate General for Climate Action; a Member of Parliament,
Scottish Government, Shadow SNP Spokesperson for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
Within the six hours, nearly 150 participants from around the world attended the session.
In addition to the regional time zone sessions, there were two other sessions on Networkingwith Institutes; and an e-poster session.
During the two hour period, 17 institutes participated in the Networking with Institutes
session and 48 e-posters were presented.
This session was held in parallel within two hours and attended by 102 persons from aroundthe world.
Closing wrap-up session included a wrap-up session for all three regional sessions to sharethe final outcomes of the session. Each representative of the session shared achievements
and recommendations of their respective session.
During the closing session, Dr. Jenty Kirsch-Wood, Chief of Section, Global Risk Analysis
and Reporting, UNDRR, Switzerland; Prof. Qunli Han, Executive Director, International
Programme Office of Integrated Research on Disaster Risk (IRDR-IPO), China; and Prof.
Andrew Collins, Leader, Disaster and Development Network, Northumbria University, UK
congratulated on the success of the conference.
Closing remarks were delivered by Prof. Paul Kovacs and the session was finally closed by
Prof. Eiichi Nakakita, Director, Disaster Prevention Research Institute (DPRI), Kyoto
University, Japan at 01:23 hours of 2nd September 2021 covering 27 hours and 23 minutes.

Conclusion

An amazing number of 640 participants from 77 economies registered for the conference; andnearly 568 members from 73 economies logged in via zoom meeting to attend the 27-hourlong conference.
The 27-hour long conference was a success especially in terms of its global participation andachieving the conference’s set objectives.

Achievements and Recommendations
Americas covering North and South America
Recommendations out of keynote speech:⚫ Multidisciplinary research to develop comprehensive community-level models ofphysical, social, and economic infrastructure⚫ Implementation: Community engagement from the very beginning (constraints andresources. Help communities understand their strengths and vulnerabilities)
Recommendations afrom the panel discussion sessions:⚫ “All disasters are local”: resilience is a local issue that must be addressed at that scale– using a combination of technical and community engagement efforts⚫ Risk modeling: multi-hazards. Encourage interdisciplinary efforts⚫ Impacts on civil structures: physics-based modeling to get the design loading⚫ Retrofit houses by leveraging insurance⚫ Resilience in recovery: “build it back better” mentality⚫ Create, support, and find mechanisms to facilitate research-to-practice partnerships(like the NSF Civic program, companies that can do the translation). Successfulmodel.
⚫ Engage decision-makers (those who control the funds) in trying to implement
resilience solutions.
⚫ Improve the communication between engineers and physical and social scientists, anddecision-makers. Find new ways to share information.
⚫ Educate to improve broad-based public understanding and support.
⚫ Identify which aspects of inequality we have not captured, which communities are
slower in recovery and under what conditions?
⚫ Incorporate equity in resilience measurement⚫ Incorporate equity in the state hazard mitigation plan
⚫ Partner with non-traditional partners and multi-agency coordination to leverage funds⚫ Get voices of behavioural scientists in the weather services and forecast⚫ Understand institutional mechanisms that create inequitable outcomes for public
housing after disasters⚫ For outreach activities, take a whole community perspective to include all ages, allraces, renters,…
⚫ National Collaboration: Science->action⚫ International collaboration (funding mechanism)
In summary, it takes transdisciplinary research and initiatives, through a convergent approachby including all stakeholders, to win the battle of climate change; and it takes close national

and international collaborations to address the grand challenge of climate change faced by theentire world.
Asia and Oceania Time Zone Session
The session included four parallel discussions sessions.
IRegional Alliances: Improving collaboration to support global stakeholders on DRRand DRM
I-1 Introducing current and existing alliances; and Introducing Viewpoints:
Suggestions for Improvement –Two important areas emerged from the discussions.
• How can the different regional initiatives collaborate, what avenues areavailable?
•need to find overarching themes to connect different programs to discussfindings to identify commonalities and disparities and learn from eachother.

•For example in SAADRI discussions there are these two focus areas: (a)Improving knowledge to practice transformation to benefit affected peopleand (b) Improving Polices for effective DRR. We may discuss wherepolicies were formulated to enhance or adopt successful practices or where
good policies led to improved practices. This type of topics can bringdifferent regional perspectives to be discussed together.

•Early warning, Climate change adaptation and Infrastructure safety were
themes that were addressed by most groups. Workshops under these topics
can be another approach.

• Community engagement

I-2•

It may be worthwhile to explore how GADRI can support and develop aprogram to synthesize rich experiences of small islands, the programs
conducted by AIT etc., to develop education and practice guidelines forengagement of communities to create a long-term effective dialogue
between research researchers and affected communities.

•Endorsement of such a program by a UN organization would make iteffective.

What should we do to encourage youth to engage in education?
Within Session 1.2, five panelists extensively delivered roadmap, ideas,
project outcomes, capacity building programs and networking for engaging,empowering and enabling the youth for next generation education in disasterrisk management (DRM). All speakers are welcomed to cover the following
three topics during their talks.
1.

How to build up platform for youth’s involvement with multi-stakeholders?
2.

What are necessary elements to be include in new DRM paradigms forthe youth?

3.

Where are the ideal approaches to attract the youth to initiate the next
mile of DRM?

Following highlights a few of the recommendations:•To enroot “culture of protection”, DRM education should start early atbasic education and be carried out lifetime.

•To meet dynamic social development, an enabling education environment
should be inclusive of possible social and physical impacts.

•To build connection and collaboration between universities and nationalplatform to enable an environment for both researcher and disastermanager.

•To highlight creativity of the youth in IoT and social media to enhancerisk communication.

•To motivate social enterprise as one engine to continuously engage theyouth in DRM.

•To encourage young “voice” and “face” to speak out DRM like Greta
Thunberg advocating for CCA.

•To recognize youth group as a resource for DRM work, instead ofvulnerable group.

•To make youth as an important source of DRM information for localcommunities•

To deliver tailored youth/young adult learning approaches•

To introduce more mainstreaming of disaster risk reduction into sectoral
policy/development process•

To welcome more regional/sub-regional collaboration and knowledge
sharing on the subject•

To utilize platform like U-INSPIRE Alliance connecting regional andglobal youth professionals to co-work and co-implement.

•To invest more in youth DRM education.

•

To include diversities of disciplines, languages, cultures and hazards forDRM education to the youth.

•To organize platforms to enable out-of-the-box thinking, open-ended
dialogues among multi-stakeholders, cross-cutting collaboration andpublic-private partnership with youth generation and other stakeholders.

•To deliver capacity building program or curriculum through diverse andinclusive approaches and to address how science and technology canmake broad-spectrum contributions to disaster risk reduction andemergency management.

•IIThe session 1.2 is a starting point to map out how GADRI can makechanges to DRM education and the topic should continue to produce more
fruitful outcomes.

Target E - Disaster Risk Governance and Contribution for Policy Making• Progresses and challenges of DRR policies• How have national and local governments adopted DRR strategies so far inline with Sendai Framework?
•Roughly a total 120 countries have adopted DRR strategies•

What are good practices of DRR strategies in national and local levels?

•8 steps approach by JICA•

Case study in Philippine▪

•-Extending application to other Asian countries

What are the challenges for making and implementing DRR strategies?
•Multi-hazard and New risk landscape•Financing is very much important•

Involving multi-stakeholders with inter-sector corporation•

Risk assessment information is the first step to involve multi-stake holders•

Monitoring and evaluation•

Multi-language

Potentials of Scientific knowledge for DRR policies••

How can scientific knowledge support national and local governments to makeand implement DRR strategies?
•

Satellite image just after disasters is helpful for making DRR strategies•

Approach integrating both human system (evacuation drill) and naturalsystem (hazard maps)•Communications among residents, governments and researchers

How can scientific knowledge provide evidence for effective implementation ofDRR policies?
•Randomized control trial (RCT) is useful to select out actually effective
policies among seemingly effective policy

•
•

III

Although strict RCT is difficult to be conducted in field, modified versionsof RCT can be feasible.

How can research institutions contribute to capacity development of national
and local governments and practitioners in fields?
•JICA presented an 8-step approach they have implemented•

Evacuation drill study based on the integrated approach human and naturalsystem•

Win-win relationship is important for sustainable contribution

Contributions to Climate Change Adaptation- To create a roadmap for Universities and Research Centres in support of theclimate change research agenda• Important milestones for roadmap for universities and research centres insupport of the climate change research agenda-•

Need for enhance Observation network particularly in mountain areas forbetter data and information for climate modeling and validation•The nature of risks are changing - there are more compound risks leading
to cascading disasters - science and technology and use of Earth
Observation plays a critical role in understanding the risk•

Individual and institutional capacity building at regional, national to local
level for informed decision making for enhancing adaptive capacity forclimate and disaster resilience•

Strengthening partnerships and networks

Listing measurable contributions of the Asia and Oceania Region towards theCOP26•

Integrated approach for DRR and CCA•

Data and knowledge sharing both at national-level and international-level,transboundary collaboration•

Evidence from observations – in-situ and remote-sensing observations•Weather and climate monitoring: DRR and CCA•

Third Pole: important weather & climate driver in Asia-Oceania region•Impact-based forecasting, early warning and rapid information dissemination•

Resilient infrastructure

IVImplementation of Sciences in Action• Implementation Science in DRR•

Perspectives expected of implementation science• Dealing systemic thing as science – even disaster risk is one of• Implementation process is inevitably dynamic• Dealing the dynamics of systems
o Norms of implementation dynamics
o How should professional scientists approach to the field?
o Mechanism design to create the desired dynamismo Sense-making• Diversity in academics
Long-term perspective and commitment
There is no manifested scientific view of the above subjects yet.
→ Needs implementation science as a cognitive system for activist scientists→ Appreciate and Evaluate scientists those who take on tough challenges

Europe covering Africa and the Middle-East
There were four discussion sessions:
I. Bridging the Collaboration Gaps: Integrating DRR and CCA for a Science in Action
AgendaII. Bridging the knowledge Gaps: Exploring solutions for Transforming Data into Action
III. Bridging the Science-Policy Gaps: Contextualising Governance to ExploreOpportunities for Action
IV. Bridging the Generational Gap: Catalysing Science in Action by Youth Engagement
In drawing together solutions to bridging gaps between science and action, focus was oncollaboration and the pressing issue of the need to integrate DRR and CCA for a more urgent
and effective Science in Action agenda stimulated by four contributions spanning research,policy and practice.
On the question of “how we can use the GADRI network of collaborating institutions tospeed up disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation solutions based on evidencebased actions of the combined agenda, there was not time for all panellists to fully expand on
this, but comments have already indicated that GADRI has a unique lead in this agenda
through the interlinking of institutions, which brings added value. This adds to the influenceof academic institutes being able to guide policy with vary opportunities for its development
and consequent science going into action.
In the final plenary session, following points were highlighted as some aspects that stood out
in the Europe, Africa, and Middle East section.
•Bridging gaps require close and continuous collaboration between stakeholders tobuild shared understanding: populations, researchers, policymakers, economic actors.
Eco-system approach!

•
•
•
•

If we (as individual and collective scientists) do not communicate, someone else does.
Heterogeneity and diversity of all sorts are crucial—narratives are essential to provide
context for evidence.
More data and evidence are necessary: fine-grained and delivered in the right format
at the right time.
Make sure young people have a seat at the table! What about systemic youth
engagement in GADRI? Can we improve?