UCL grand challenges: progress to date 2008/2009-2009/2010
This report summarises the progress made by UCL on its ambitious vision for research aiming at improving humanity's circumstances worldwide. This includes UCL's position in research on risk and disaster reduction.
The report outlines areas where UCL intends to deliver novel achievements - the grand challenges: global health, sustainable cities, inter-cultural interaction and human well-being - in order to mitigate and prevent those circumstances that produce needless suffering, ill health, stress, misunderstanding and conflict.
It includes a report on the launch of (i) the UCL Institute for Risk & Disaster Reduction and its first report 'Volcanic Hazard from Iceland: Analysis and implications of the Eyjafjallajökull eruption'; (ii) two modules exploring the health implications of disasters and climate change for the urban poor in the Global South: 'Disaster Risk Reduction in Cities'; as well as (iii) a three-day conference, 'Disaster Risk Reduction', which explored ways in which disaster risk reduction may become more effective and integrated in the future.