Innovations in Disaster Risk Reduction 2018 | In-Service ICT Training for Environmental Professionals

Course dates: June 25-29, 2018

Venue: Central European University, Budapest, Hungary

Workshop information

The annual workshop The Innovations in Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) will bring attention to the recent advances in information and communication technologies (ICTs) and examine how they are empowering both decision-makers and citizens to play a proactive role in managing disaster risks and providing more effective disaster response. The main aim of the workshop is training environmental professionals in the field building upon experience and expertise in ICTs and DRR by both UNDP and a diverse network of organizations like Esri, GEO and Google. Combining regional UNDP experience, ICT industry expertise, and accumulated first-hand knowledge by this global community of practice, the workshop will offer both theoretical and practical skills in disaster risk reduction, monitoring, and recovery.

Best practice case studies will be highlighted, through which technologies have been proven to be highly effective tools in disaster management. The transformative digital opportunities provided by the workshop will allow its participants to integrate know-how in a decision-making process, facilitate response and establish multi-stakeholder partnership for regional and global cooperation.

DRR workshop will cover ICTs for DRR, Early Warning Systems, innovations in climate risk management (CRM) and disaster preparedness and response, smart cities, and integration of relevant innovative solutions into sectoral and municipal development. In addition, a range of technologies will be presented including remote sensing, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), big data, citizen science, mobile technologies, data portals, and more.

Target Group

The workshop is targeted at representatives of regional and country offices of UN agencies, National Focal Points of international conventions, relevant government agencies (e.g. Ministries of Emergency Situations, Environment, Communications), researchers and civil society. No prior experience in application of geospatial technologies in DRR is required.

Workshop Directors

Viktor Lagutov, Central European University, Hungary

Armen Grigoryan, UNDP Regional Centre for Europe and CIS, Turkey

Workshop faculty

Jeff Baranyi, Esri

Douglas Cripe, Group of Earth Observations (GEO) Secretariat, Switzerland

Lorant Czaran, United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs, Austria

Ed Parsons, Google, UK

András Szöllősi-Nagy, International Hydrological Programme of UNESCO

Application Information

For further information on the workshop and application procedures, please visit: https://summeruniversity.ceu.edu/disaster-2018 or contact us at info@isepei.org.

Additional Information

This workshop is a joint activity between United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Central European University and DG Joint Research Centre through the ISEPEI project. This course is a part of the “Bridging ICTs and Environment” workshop series. It is run under the organizational framework of the CEU Summer University.