UCL Institute for Risk and Disaster Reduction
IRDR Annual Report prepared for the Annual General Meeting, 21 June 2012
The UCL Institute for Risk and Disaster Reduction (IRDR) was launched on 26 May 2010
with a mission to lead research, knowledge exchange and teaching in risk and disaster
reduction (RDR) across UCL, following a successful bid to the Provost’s Strategic
Development Fund (PSDF), strongly supported by the MAPS Faculty. Its Director is Peter
Sammonds, appointed by agreement between the MAPS Dean and VP Research. This
report is organized around the commitments made in the PSDF bid and covers the second
twelve months of activity.
Constitution The IRDR is an Academic Unit within MAPS. The Director reports to the
Deans’ Oversight Committee and an Advisory Board, chaired by the VP Research, and
holds an AGM. The position of the IRDR changed as of Jan 2012 and it is now a level 60
informal (i.e., not approved by Council) unit, which means it has departmental status on
matters such as HR. The change does not alter the function of the IRDR as cross-UCL
body. The IRDR budget has its own cost code, CQ, for which the director is responsible.
Management The IRDR Director and Deputy Director draw up planning programmes,
which are presented to termly meetings of the IRDR Executive Board. The Deputy Director
position is 0.5 FTE and IRDR Administrator is 0.3 FTE.
Staffing There have been a significant number of new appointments in 2011-12:
Deputy Director, Dr Rosanna Smith, Jan 2012 from LMU, Germany
Lecturer in Risk and Disaster Reduction, Dr Joanna Faure Walker, May 2012 from RMS
IRDR Research Fellow, Dr Mohammad Shamsudduha, March 2012 from UCL
(Geography) – water risks
IRDR Research Fellow, Dr Ben Lishman, April 2012 from Bristol – Arctic engineering risks
IRDR-CAFOD Research Associate, Dr Megan French, March 2012, from industry.
Professor Filippos Vallianatos (Technological Institute of Crete) and Professor Frank
Furedi (Kent) have been appointed as Visiting Professors.
Professor David Alexander was appointed to the chair in Risk and Disaster Reduction from
October 2013.
A further appointment of a Lecturer in R&DR and further IRDR Research Fellow are
factored in for 2012-13. A NERC PURE PDRA will be appointed.
The Director has made a case to MAPS to increase the IRDR Administrator role from 0.3
to 0.5 FTE, and the Deputy Director from 0.5 to 0.8 FTE for 1 year.
Stephen Edwards relinquished the post of Deputy Director in September 2011. Rosanna
Smith was appointed the new Deputy Director in January 2012. The IRDR Administrator
resigned as of June 2012 and the position is vacant.
Items are reported corresponding to commitments made in the IRDR bid to the
PSDF.
1. Coordinate RDR research at UCL and lead bids for major RDR programmes
NERC Natural Hazards theme: Following the IRDR Natural Hazards Forum in April 2011,
UCL led (Dr Richard Chandler, Statistical Sciences) a £2m+ bid for the NERC Probability
and Uncertainty programme. This was successful.
Successful bids were also submitted with Filippos Vallianatos (Technological Educational
Institute of Crete) for earthquake research funding to the Greek government (~€500k).
1 Peter Sammonds continues in his role as NERC Strategic Advisor for the Increasing
Resilience to Natural Hazards programme.
2. Publish high-impact RDR multidisciplinary reports to influence public policy
Contributed to the UCL School of Public Policy Lancet note on post-disaster medical
response.
Contributed to the EEFIT Report on the Tohoku Earthquake to which the IRDR contributed
has fed directly into advice for ministers through the Cabinet Office.
3. Forge external partnerships
CAFOD: Joint IRDR-CAFOD-ABUHC project on Bolivian water risk launched.
Academic Partnerships: Institute of Natural Resources & Natural Hazards, Crete, Greece
(Eramus agreement); Tohoku University International Research Institute of Disaster
Science (IRIDeS) (to sign MoU in October).
Visitors: Marta Gallucci (Italy); Salma Al Sinan (Saudi Arabia); Anna Weissenmayer
(Germany).
4. Raise the profile of UCL RDR activities, with a high visibility website portal,
keynote lectures, workshops, seminar series, e-newsletter, special reports
IRDR events highlights
IRDR Annual Conference, 22nd June 2011
IRDR Dickens’s London panel discussion, 15th March 2012.
IRDR Anthropology & Sociology Forum on Resilience, 1st June 2012
IRDR co-hosted event
IRDR Dickens’s London Exhibition (with English, Library Special Collections).
Invitations IRDR in Japan. Deputy Director attended the anniversary commemoration of the Tohoku earthquake in March 2012 and the launch of the International Research Institute of Disaster
Science in May 2012.
5. Launch 6 IRDR fellowships
See staffing section above.
6. Launch 6 PhD studentships, subsequently building to a UCL Doctoral Training
Centre in RDR
1 FT Tsunami Statistics research student started September 2010
1 FT Earthquake Hazard research student started August 2010
2 FT Earthquake Hazard research students started April 2011 (were PT until May 2012)
2 FT Earthquake Hazard & Arctic Engineering Risk Impact Studentships for 2012-13
1 FT IRDR-ES Volcanic Hazard Studentship for 2012-13
IRDR Teaching & Training Forum to set up cross-research council DTC – paused.
7. Coordinate RDR PG teaching, providing a student portal for all programmes
A web portal was launched.
8. Launch a new multidisciplinary RDR Master’s programme
IRDR RDR MRes and Postgraduate Certificate programmes to be launched in 2012.
9. Develop bespoke courses for industry, commerce and humanitarian and
development agencies
This objective is tied to objective 8.
10. Provide a central Bloomsbury hub and resource centre for UCL RDR activities
We have been allocated 1 research room, 1 research fellow room, 1 support staff office
and 2 academic staff offices in the South Wing.
Peter Sammonds, Director, IRDR
June 2012
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