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Thanks to a generous gift from an alumnus of Durham University, IHRR is offering a new Postgraduate Fellowship designed to support a PhD studentship for 3 years in IHRR. The Postgraduate Fellowship will fund a new PhD research project located in a suitable academic department. The project will be conducted in a region of the world with relatively limited economic resources, where the community is at risk of natural disaster or other environmental hazard which puts lives and/or livelihoods at risk.
The aim is to carry out academically rigorous research which has a tangible, practical, deliverable outcome in helping to enhance knowledge about effective ways to build resilience against the hazards faced, and to share this knowledge with people in the community where the work is carried out. This purpose accords very closely with the aims of IHRR and the student awarded this Fellowship will be very welcome as a valued partner in the Institute.
Applications can be considered for PhD projects in all disciplines and from students overseas or within the EU. The Fellowship is designed to cover tuition fees, maintenance stipend and an element for costs of work in the field or laboratory work. For further information download the application. Deadline is 30 May 2013. For any enquiries about the fellowship email ihrr.admin@durham.ac.uk for the attention of Professor Sarah Curtis, Executive Director of IHRR.
The Institute of Hazard, Risk and Resilience is hosting a unique forum for postgraduate researchers interested in learning more about fieldwork from a variety of perspectives.
Friday 24 May 201310.15-12.30 (followed by lunch) Joachim Room, Hild Bede College, Durham University
The forum is an opportunity to mix with Postgraduate Students from around the University and exchange ideas and experience about the challenges and opportunities of carrying out fieldwork and practical work at postgraduate level. Presentations will be given by postgraduate students on their international field work experiences in hazard and risk research. Early career researchers will also be available for a Q&A session about doing field work.
To register for the Postgraduate Forum please send an email to ihrr.pg@durham.ac.uk with name and dietary requirements.
Resilience can mean many things to different people, spanning art, culture, history, language, science and nature, to name but a few. What is fascinating about resilience is that it may not be limited to words. Photography can be used to explore a highly ambiguous term by revealing its meaning through pictures. Not long ago IHRR held an online photo competition to see how people viewed resilience from their perspective. What we received in response was a wide range of photos, from portraits of people to landscapes, ways of life and survival. These photos tell stories of resilience in both personal and universal ways. Since we couldn’t include all of the photos in the next issue of our magazine Hazard Risk Resilience, we decided to post some of the runners-up here for everyone to see. Read more
Rob Parker (University of Cardiff) and Dave Petley
The Mw = 7.8 earthquake on Tuesday in Iran was the largest event in that country for about 50 years. Fortunately, the depth of the earthquake (82 km) and the low population density in the affected areas meant that loss of life was low for an event of this size. Indeed, reports suggest that only one person died in Iran, although there are reports of 40 deaths in Pakistan. This single fatality in Iran was the result of a landslide, and one of the images on the BBC reports about the earthquake also seems to show landslides:
Over the last three years or so, we have been working with our colleagues Alex Densmore and Nick Rosser, funded by the Willis Research Network, to develop a model that will allow us to make an initial assessment of landslide impacts in earthquakes. Rob recently submitted his PhD, and has now moved to a post-doctoral position at Cardiff. However, we thought that this event would be an interesting first application of the model, which has been produced through a statistical (logistic regression) analysis of spatial patterns of landslides (with areas larger than 11,000 square metres) triggered by four large earthquakes in the USA, New Zealand, Taiwan and China. The model provides a first-order prediction of the probability of hillslope failure across the region affected by seismic shaking, based on the strength of ground motions and the gradient of hillslopes. Areas likely to have experienced high levels of landslide activity are shown in red, and while areas we expect to be less affected by landslides are shown in green and then blue. Here, landslide probability has been estimated using preliminary ground motion data published by the USGS and hillslope gradients derived from the ASTER global elevation model. Read more
Programme for Disaster Interventions and Humanitarian Aid
19th April 2013, 10:00 to 13:00, Elvet Riverside 2, Room 231, Durham University
Weather-related disasters are increasing in frequency and intensity leading to more cold spells, flooding and droughts and other extreme weather events. These can cause loss of life and livelihoods as well as damage the environment. These can be stressful for local communities, sometimes requiring extensive external assistance, often delivered as emergency and/or humanitarian aid. This seminar considers disaster research findings from one project based in Sri Lanka and another in the UK and raises important questions of interest to emergency planners and humanitarian aid workers. There will be opportunities for practitioners to discuss issues that arise for them. This event is co-organised by IHRR associate director Prof Lena Dominelli.
Places are limited, so please contact Carole Pickering at c.a.pickering@durham.ac.uk to book.
