Understanding Risk Forum 2016

The 2016 Understanding Risk Forum (UR2016) is the fourth biennial conference of the UR Community. Understanding Risk is a global community of experts and practitioners in the field of disaster risk identification—including risk assessment and risk communication—ranging from representatives of government agencies, multilateral organizations, the private sector, non-governmental organizations, research institutions, academia, community-based organizations, and civil society.

UR2016 will provide a place for showcasing emerging best practices, forming nontraditional partnerships, learning about the field, and advancing innovation to better understanding disaster risk.

The conference aims to convene 800 attendees from the all over the world, with interest, either professionally or personally, in the field of disaster risk identification. UR2016 welcomes representatives from government agencies, multilateral organizations, the private sector, non-governmental organizations, research institutions, academia, community-based organizations, civil society, and the greater community.

Format

The Forum will be structured similarly to past Global Forums: three days will consist of keynote speakers, technical sessions, and opening and closing ceremonies. Two days will provide a place for members of the UR Community to hold meetings or trainings to advance the field of disaster risk identification.

Topics

Plenary topics

• Climate Change
• Gender

Technical session topics

• Assessing infrastructure
  • Check the vitals: Making infrastructure more resilient
• Assessing cultural heritage and schools
• Assessing vulnerable communities
  • Putting people first: Practices, challenges and innovations in characterizing and mapping social groups
• Behavioral challenges
  • “I Understand Risk, You Misunderstand Risk, S/He Fails to Act”: Learning to anticipate behavioral challenges in pre-disaster decision making
• Compounding events
  • The domino effect: The future of quantifying compounding events in deltas
• Connections of poverty and risk
  • How risks and shocks impact poverty and why, when, and where can better financial protection help
• Crowdsourcing
  • Bridging The Divide: Digital Humanitarians and the Nepal Earthquake
• Decision-making under uncertainty
  • When uncertainty is certain: Tools for improved decision making for weather and climate
• El Niño and La Niña
  • Map Slam: Revealing the common misperceptions about El Niño and La Niña
• Future of risk
  • Building a less risky future: How today’s decisions shape disaster risk in the cities of tomorrow
• Impact-based forecasting
  • The final mile: Connecting an impact-based warning service to decision making
• Insurance and infrastructure
  • Reinforcing foundations: The role of the insurance industry in critical infrastructure
• New innovations in the field
  • Disruptors: Cutting edge technologies that are changing the way we understand risk
• Open data
  • Breaking barriers: Open data and shared risk analysis in support of multilateral action
• Psychology and risk perception
  • The road from risk perception to preparedness: Exploring the psychological and sociological aspects of risk perception
• Risk communication
  • Communicating for action: What works?
• Risk modelling
  • Reading the tea leaves: When risk models fail to predict disaster impacts
• Science, technology and Sendai

Contact

If you have any questions or comments about UR2016, please email: info@UR2016venice.com.