Following a proposal submitted by Hasan Virji of the International START Secretariat, a recent strategy meeting at the IRDR International Centre of Excellence in Taipei heard a presentation of the new Pan-Asia Risk Reduction (PARR) Fellowship Program.

The PARR Fellowship Program offers unique research, training and educational opportunities to Asian researchers, practitioners, and policy makers to enhance their capabilities for advancing and applying knowledge on critical issues of GEC and risk reduction in the Asia-Pacific. The PARR Fellowship Program fulfills the needs of the region for researchers, practitioners, and policy makers who are able to plan with foresight to address the increasingly complex challenges of GEC and risk reduction and management. The program establishes a knowledge to action network of people and institutions capable of developing and implementing innovative approaches to planning and action at local, national, and regional levels.

An inception meeting of the PARR fellowship program had been held at the Manila Observatory on 24-25 July 2014. The inception meeting brought together the 2014 PARR Fellows and their home and host institutions to engage with other representatives from the region in forming the basis of a network of researchers, practitioners, and policy-makers interested in building more resilient and adaptive development pathways in Asia. Participants became familiar with the goals and expectations of the PARR Fellowship Program and explored the next steps for the PARR Fellowship Program to advance activities in the region.

The inaugural round of the PARR Fellowship Program combines the PARR Research and Practice-Policy Fellow into two-person teams for a six-month fellowship experience, including one-month at a host institution. The inaugural round includes twelve fellows representing seven countries in Asia. The theme of the 2014 PARR Fellowship Program is urban disaster risk and vulnerability under global environmental change. The fellows will be hosted at Kyoto University, Japan, Manila Observatory, Philippines, University of the Philippines Los Banos, and National Science and Technology Center for Disaster Reduction in Taiwan. Learn more about the 2014/2015 PARR Fellowship inaugural round and meet the Fellows.