Building Bhutanese Resilience Against Cataclysmic Events (BRACE) BRACE is a transdisciplinary project that will forge new relationships among geoscientists, engineers, social scientists, historians, and policy makers to address seismic risk and develop resilience-building strategies. This will be achieved through collaborative research and outreach between UK and US researchers and academics and government officials in the Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan, an ODA recipient country. This novel attempt to develop a multi-pronged approach will reduce earthquake disaster risk, and bring geological, geomorphological and seismological work into conversation with both historical records held in Bhutanese archives and with research into contemporary Bhutanese governance, disaster preparedness, and effective communication strategies for risk reduction. By merging new research in these fields with close consultation with in-country policymakers and engineers, our long-term aim is to develop a sustainable framework for improving Bhutanese resilience to earthquakes and their secondary effects. We will combine expertise in tectonics, seismology, geomorphology, engineering, cultural history, environmental decision making (governance), development, and education to investigate the links between historical records of seismicity, seismic hazards, and the impact of earthquakes on environmental issues, infrastructure and populations. The aim will be to develop resilience and research capacity within Bhutan to cope with earthquakes and their cascading effects on environment, infrastructure, and society. The underlying drivers of disaster risk are currently poorly understood. The Himalaya are highly seismically active (highlighted by the 2015 magnitude 7.8 Gorkha earthquake in Nepal), but Bhutan appears to represent a region of relative seismic quiescence. There is currently little understanding of seismic hazard in Bhutan, and therefore of the potential disruption to landscape and infrastructure, and the consequent impacts on access to food, water, energy, and impact for the health and wellbeing of society. In addition, the regional tectonics and poorly known fault network appear structurally complex and present challenges to assessing future earthquake potential. Bhutan is a rapidly developing country in which traditional modes of life and architecture are being challenged by moves to urban areas where population density has increased. Urban areas are rapidly expanding but building standards are not sufficient to withstand future seismic events, thus presenting a clear call to action. Strengthening resilience to earthquakes and their secondary effects presents transdisciplinary and multi-stakeholder challenges. The interaction between social systems and physical processes results in layers of complexity, which challenge businesses, governments and policy makers, particularly at times of rapid change or shock after a natural disaster. This project will bring a transdisciplinary perspective in which the knowledge of geoscientists, engineers, historians, social scientists, policy makers and practitioners, as well as local knowledge and lay views, are considered. Scientific research identifies pathways and opportunities available to society in times of shock, and combined with a social science perspective can identify the pathways to resilience and rebuilding. Historical archives provide rich data on past seismic events that can help to build an understanding of seismic hazard. However, little work has been done to investigate the potential of Bhutanese historical records to collect and constrain information about past earthquakes. Such data are critical to our understanding of today's seismic hazard as well as the structural makeup of the tectonic plate boundary in the eastern Himalaya. We will assess the availability of documentary data on past earthquakes using selected archives to develop a catalogue of historical seismic activity and vulnerability, as well as indigenous response and coping mechanisms. The Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) supports cutting-edge research to address challenges faced by developing countries. The fund addresses the UN sustainable development goals. It aims to maximise the impact of research and innovation to improve lives and opportunity in the developing world.