Understanding Risk Balkans: Apply now to join the Disaster Resilient Balkans - Empowering Young Professionals side event

The vision of the UR Balkans conference is to help further the understanding of risk by supporting a network of experts and practitioners that share knowledge and experience, and discuss best practices and innovative approaches in assessing risk and communicating risk information. UR has become the preeminent platform for collaboration, knowledge sharing, and innovation in identifying and assessing disaster risk.

This special side-event aims to bring together a community of young professionals, researchers and students (under 35) working on disaster risk management (DRM) from all parts of the Balkans, give them the space to share knowledge on DRM across disciplines and geographic borders, and build their capacity to think creatively and innovatively when addressing challenging DRM issues. The event will do this in four stages, firstly by providing an outline of current youth initiatives in the DRM sphere; secondly, a creative networking exercise to identify the current challenges for youth engagement in DRM in the Balkans; thirdly, an interactive role playing game on DRM in the Sava River Basin; finally, a selection of young researchers will have the opportunity to pitch their DRM research and get interactive feedback.

Date: Monday 17th September
Location: Yugoslav Film Archive Museum, Belgrade, Serbia
Time: 9am to 1pm

More information on UR Balkans here: https://understandrisk.org/event/urbalkans2018/

See full programme here: https://understandrisk.org/wp-content/uploads/UR-Balkans-Program_Final_07.13.2018.pdf

Youth side-event application process
Please apply for the event here: https://goo.gl/forms/ey8lWvSJSx3gASJ33

The World Bank and GFDRR have kindly offered to sponsor two young professionals or researchers to attend the event and cover their hotel and transportation (Economy class). Those selected for funding will need to present their Balkan based DRR project or research as part of the event. The organising team can provide support letters to help applicants obtain external sponsorship.

Please submit your application before July 31st if you wish to apply for sponsorship. Successful candidates for sponsorship will be notified before August 13th.

Please contact the Organising Team via Imra Hodzic (i.hodzic@wateryouthnetwork.org) if you have any specific questions