Current Research Projects

Upstream-downstream interface

A study of the upstream-downstream interface in end-to-end tsunami early warning and mitigation systems
Partners: ITB, Indonesia; University of Colombo, Sri Lanka; ADPC, Thailand
Date of commencement : 1st October 2017

Costal Urban Agglomeration Policy

Mainstreaming Integrated Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaption Strategies into Coastal Urban Agglomeration Policy
Scheme: British Council Newton Institutional Links scheme.
HUD team: Richard Haigh (PI): Dilanthi Amaratunga (COI)
Value: £116,820
Date of commencement: April 2017
Partnership: Institute of Technology Bandung, Indonesia (lead overseas partner), National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB), Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysical Agency (BMKG), UNESCO ICG/IOTWMS, Ministry of Agrarian and Spatial Planning

CABARET

CABARET (Capacity Building in Asia for Resilience Education)
Scheme: Erasmus+ Call: Capacity Building in the Field of Higher Education EAC/A04/2015
HUD team: Richard Haigh (PI): Dilanthi Amaratunga (COI)
Value: €993,340.00
Submitted on: 10/02/2016 - 12:00 (CET/CEST)
Date of commencement: February 2017
Partnership: University of Huddersfield, UK (leading); University of Central Lancashire, UK; IHC Cantabria - Environmental Hydraulics Institute, Spain; Mining and Geology University, Sofia, Bulgaria; University of Malta, Malta; Riga Technical University, Latvia; University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka; University of Peradeniya (UoP), Sri Lanka; ITB Bandung, Indonesia; University of Andalas, Indonesia; Maldives National University, Maldives; De La Salle University, Philippines; Ateneo de Manila University, Philippines; Mandalay technology university, Myanmar; Yangon university, Myanmar

Localising Strategies

LOCALISING STRATEGIES FOR MAKING CITIES RESILIENT TO DISASTERS
Funding body: British Council funded Newton Researcher Links Scheme
Institutions: Global Disaster Resilience Centre, University of Huddersfield & De La
Sallle University, Manila, Philippines
Period: 2017 – 2018
Value: £ 67,200
HUD Team: Professor Dilanthi Amaratunga (PI) & Professor Richard Haigh (CO-I)
Submission details: Submitted in September 2016 and was selected for funding on the 27th January 2017

CADRE

CADRE (Collaborative Action towards Disaster Resilience Education) is funded by the Education Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency, and aims to address current and emerging labour market demands in the construction industry to increase societal resilience to disasters.

The project will improve the quality and relevance of higher education through active cooperation between Higher Education Institutes and partners from outside academia, including construction professional bodies, local/national/international bodies and social partners. CADRE will achieve this aim by:

• Establishing a framework for ICU integration to address societal concerns
• Developing and testing an innovative professional doctoral programme that integrates professional and academic knowledge in the construction industry to develop societal resilience to disasters
• Creating world-class curricula and modules to support the programme and address current and emerging capacity gaps in the development of societal resilience to disasters
• Exploiting ICT to enable cross-border cooperation in the sharing and delivery of educational resources that support the professional doctoral programme. 

CADRE is a 3 year project commencing October 2013. Global Disaster Resilience Centre (GDRC) is the lead partner for CADRE, and the work is being carried out with six other partners: Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, Lithuania; Tallinn University of Technology, Estonia; Northumbria University, UK; United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction, Switzerland; University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka; and Federation of Sri Lankan Local Government Authorities, Sri Lanka.

You can find more information on the CADRE website.


Costal Communities

Development of disaster resilient coastal communities to enhance economic development and social welfare

Institutions: Global Disaster Resilience Centre, University of Huddersfield & Institute of Technology Bandung, Indonesia

Coordinators: Professor Richard Haigh, GDRC, University of Huddersfield & Dr Harkunti Rahayu, Institute of Technology Bandung, Indonesia

Experience over recent years of the impacts of coastal hazards such as tsunamis, storm surges, sea level rise and coastal erosion, has shown that inadequate preparation for, and response to, emergency situations have contributed to widespread damage and the avoidable loss of lives and livelihoods. These hazards set back economic development in both developed and developing economies, and tend to disproportionally affect the most vulnerable in society. The shortcomings in preparation have been due to a lack of warning through poor regional detection and communication systems, but they also reflect inadequate awareness, planning and coordination.

Recent studies and practical experiences of hazards suggest that more attention needs to be paid to the cognitive and normative challenges in positioning early warning systems and preparedness in the wider context of social change in the coastal societies and communities at risk. Better platforms for knowledge sharing need to be established to enable stakeholders to collectively negotiate these challenges, to improve the integration of early warning with other priorities such as livelihoods improvement, natural resource management and community development, and to provide opportunities for critical reflection of 'on‐the‐ground' experiences and lessons learnt.

A workshop on the development of disaster resilience coastal communities will be held from 28th October to 1st November 2015 at Institute of Technology, Bandung, Indonesia.

Ensuring Accountability

Enhancing Tsunami Risk Assessment and Management, Strengthening Policy Support and Developing Guidelines for Tsunami Exercises in Indian Ocean Countries.

GDRC has become formally involved in the Risk Assessment and Management Team of UNESCO Intergovernmental Coordination Group for the Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System (ICG/IOTWS). The project, funded by UNESCAP, is entitled “Enhancing Tsunami Risk Assessment and Management, Strengthening Policy Support and Developing Guidelines for Tsunami Exercises in Indian Ocean Countries”.

Under this initiative, there will be a design and planning meeting to develop training modules and materials for a regional workshop on Coastal Hazards and Tsunami Risk Assessment and Management, followed by a key Regional meeting.

The
Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO is a regional focal point of the IOC to coordinate and facilitate the development and implementation of oceanographic science programs and initiatives, as relevant to the balanced strategic and tactical scientific priorities. The IOC aids and advises policy makers and managers in the reduction of risks from tsunamis, storm surges, Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) and other coastal hazards by focusing on implementing adaptation measures to strengthen the resilience of vulnerable coastal communities, their infrastructure and service-providing ecosystems.

UNESCO-IOC is leading a global effort to establish ocean-based tsunami warning systems as part of an overall multi-hazard disaster reduction strategy. The IOC Tsunami Unit works with Member States, together with other UN agencies and NGOs, to build sustainable tsunami early warning systems. The Unit’s mission is to ensure appropriate design and development of tsunami warning systems and to ultimately provide adequate protection at local, regional, and global scales. Following the undersea earthquake on 26 December 2004 and the subsequent strongest tsunami in living memory, IOC took the lead in coordinating activities and immediate action to establish a Tsunami Warning System (TWS) in the Indian Ocean. The response included the establishment of an interim Tsunami Warning System while the interim Tsunami Advisory Information is provided through the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii and the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA).

Further details on our involvement can be obtained from Professor Richard Haigh: r.haigh@hud.ac.uk

Further details on the UNESCO IOC programme can be found at http://www.unesco.org/new/en/natural-sciences/ioc-oceans/

Critical Road Infrastructure

Enhancing resilience of critical road infrastructure: bridges, culverts and flood ways
This project will develop tools and techniques for implementing strategies to enhance resilience of road infrastructure to multi-hazards of floods, fire and climate change and earthquakes.

Planned outcomes of this project include:

Quantitative evaluation of vulnerability of road structures under multi hazards of fire, flood, earthquake and climate change: a web based tool for design and maintenance optimisation of bridges , culverts, flood ways to flood, bushfire , climate change and earthquake;
Quantifying Social, Environmental and Economic consequences of failure: community, emergency services staff and road/local government authorities: community adaptation options to enhance resilience as an alternative to hardening of structures when critical road structure was damaged;
Input for decision support at local government and state road authorities: a new design guide for flood ways, plus recommended changes to other standards;
A generic research methodology which can be applied to other infrastructure such as transmission towers, and water infrastructure.
The lead partner of this project is RMIT in Australia. The project is led by Professor Sujeeva from RMIT University. The planned duration of the project is 7 years, with an approximate value of Aus$ 5 million

GDRC’s Professor Dilanthi Amaratunga is the only international partner in this consortium.

CENEAST

GDRC is teamed up with institutions in the Russian Federation to enhance the quality and relevance of built environment education. The three-year research project – CENEAST (Reformation of the Curricula on Built Environment in the Eastern Neighbouring Area) – has secured €998,601 of funding from the Tempus EU Programme.

The key aim of CENEAST is to upgrade the curricula relating to the built environment in the universities of Belarus, Russia and Ukraine to ensure that building and civil engineering students possess the relevant skills for an international labour market. The project commenced in October 2012 and is led by Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, Lithuania and has 13 other partners from Belarus, Estonia, Italy, Lithuania, Russian Federation, Ukraine and United Kingdom.

The main objective of CENEAST is to upgrade curricula of BSc/specialists, MSc and PhD programmes with new modules on energetically and ecologically sustainable, affordable and healthy built environment in universities of Belarus, Russia and Ukraine in order to enhance the quality and relevance of education to labour market needs.

The project will develop 20 study modules and a virtual inter-university networked educational system to ensure cooperation among the partner universities in education and research.

Please visit http://www.ceneast.com/ for more details.