At its recent 17th meeting, convened in Cancun, Mexcio, the IRDR Scientific Committee (SC) reviewed the proposal submitted by Stockholm Environment Institute(SEI) to establish an IRDR International Centre of Excellence (ICoE) on Transforming Development and Disaster Risk (ICoE-TDDR). And it has been unanimously approved.
Recognizing the importance of transformation of the relationship between development and disaster risk , in 2015 SEI launched a new research initiative called Transforming Development and Disaster Risk (TDDR), which is now in its second phase (2017-2018) of implementation.
TDDR provides a strong platform and various entry points for SEI to host and lead the development of IRDR ICoE-TDDR. While specifically hosted by the SEI Asia Centre, the IRDR ICoE-TDDR will draw on expertise from across SEI, as well as serve as a platform for an evolving partnership between select reputable institutions in the region: the Asian Disaster Preparedness Centre (ADPC), Chulalongkorn University, and the Rockefeller Foundation.
In developing the IRDR ICoE-TDDR, SEI’s overall strategy of action is one of close partnership and progressive development, based on mutual interests and responding to emerging opportunities as well as the critical TDDR issues particularly in the Southeast Asia region.
SEI will actively seek opportunities to collaborate with other IRDR ICoEs, particularly the ICoE for National Society for Earthquake Technology- Nepal (ICoE-NSET) and the ICoE for Disaster Risk and Climate Extremes (ICoE- SEADPRI-UKM) at the Southeast Asia Disaster Prevention Research Initiative, National University of Malaysia.
So far, IRDR has 13 ICoEs. The network map has been updated.
