The interdisciplinary research project Changing Disasters has a September 1 deadline for the conference’s Call for Papers. They are hosting the first Northern European conference on emergency and disaster studies which will be held at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark.

IRDR has organized an extended expert panel to kick off the conference. Susan Cutter, Allan Lavell, Anthony Oliver-Smith, and Richard Eiser will address “Integrated research to achieve the new Sendai Framework” on a panel moderated by Anne Castleton, IRDR science officer.

The NEEDS conference aims to explore the status quo of disaster research and management. The conference wishes to harness its broad, interdisciplinary expertise by gathering disaster researchers from academic institutions and practitioners from the disaster management community (European and beyond) to build networks and to discuss the most pressing issues in disaster research across the academic and practical disciplines.

The accelerating frequency and magnitude of natural and manmade disasters has spawned the development of numerous disaster research centres, projects, and networks across the globe. Scientists, academics, humanitarians, engineers, and private companies are but a few of the actors to emerge over the past two decades, reflecting the truly interdisciplinary character of the expanded disaster field. Other speakers include: Theodore Steinberg, Case Western Reserve University, USA; Nabil Ahmed, University of London, UK; Anders Blok, University of Copenhagen, DK; Füsun Türetken, Goldsmiths, University of London, UK; and Danilo Bilotta, The Italian Civil Protection Department, IT.