Focus Days events included training sessions, workshops, and stakeholder meetings that were organized by individual organizations to set the dialogue before the main conference. UR2016 Focus Days included more than 30 side events. To see the full Focus Day program, please click here.
Wednesday, May 18
14:00 – 15:30 Opening ceremony & keynote address
Speakers:
- Ermelinda Damiano, President of City Council of Venice , Italy
- Fabrizio Curcio, Head of the National Civil Protection Department, Italy
- John Roome, Senior Director, Climate Change Group, World Bank Group
- Pablo Suarez, Red Cross Red Cresent Climate Centre and University College London
Keynote address: Polly Morland, an award-winning British writer and documentarian
15:30 – 16:00 Coffee break
16:00 – 18:30 Ignite: 5 minute lightning presentations by technical session leads
18:30 – 20:00 Welcome cocktail reception
Thursday, May 19
09:00 –10:30 Resilience Dialogue: Technology, disaster risk and the gender divide
10:30 – 11:00 Coffee break
11:00 – 12:30 Technical sessions (4 parallel)
- Check the vitals: Making infrastructure more resilient, FM Global
- Disruptors: Cutting edge technologies that are changing the way we understand risk, Safehub & Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR)
- Reinforcing foundations: The role of the insurance industry in resilient infrastructure, The Geneva Association & World Bank Group
- Map Slam: Revealing the common misperceptions about El Niño and La Niña, Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre & International Research Institute for Climate and Society, Columbia University
12:30 – 14:00 Lunch
14:00 – 15:30 Asking the hard questions: The impact of climate change on our decisions
15:30 – 16:00 Coffee break
16:00 – 17:30 Technical sessions (4 parallel)
- The domino effect: The future of quantifying compounding events in deltas, Deltares, European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC) & VU University, Institute for Environmental Studies (IVM)
- Breaking barriers for the common good: Open data and shared risk analysis in support of multilateral action, United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs(UN OCHA) & GFDRR
- Putting people first: Practices, challenges and innovations in characterizing and mapping social groups, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
- When uncertainty is certain: Tools for improved decision making for weather and climate, United States Agency for International Development (USAID)
18:00 – 19:30 5×15, 5 outstanding individuals have 15 minutes to tell stories about ‘risk’
Speakers:
- Marcus du Sautoy, Charles Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science and Professor of Mathematics, Oxford University. Du Sautoy will be speaking about his latest book What We Cannot Know: Explorations at the Edge of Knowledge
- Benedict Allen, Explorer, writer and film maker whose books include: The Faber Book of Exploration; Edge of Blue Heaven and The Skeleton Coast, talks about his journeys in the Amazon basin and beyond
- Misha Glenny, Journalist and foremost expert in organised crime and cyber crime, author of McMafia: Seriously Organised Crime; DarkMarket: How Hackers Became the New Mafia and Nemesis: One Man and the Battle for Rio
- Jane da Mosto, Environmental scientist, MA, Oxford University, M. Phil. Imperial College London, talking about risk and resilience in the Venice lagoon
- Francesco da Mosto, Architect, author and TV presenter whose BBC series include Francesco’s Italy; Francesco’s Venice; and Francesco’s Kitchen speaking about the history of Venice
Friday, May 20
9:00 – 10:30 Technical sessions (4 parallel)
- Reading the tea leaves: When risk models fail to predict disaster impacts, ImageCat & GFDRR
- The final mile: Connecting an impact-based warning service to decision making, UK Met Office, Deltares & GFDRR
- Understanding risk is essential for the implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030: Targeting the future with science and technology, United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) & European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC)
- Communicating for action: What’s needed?, BBC Media Action, King’s College London & Resurgence
10:30 – 11:00 Coffee break
11:00 – 12:30 Technical sessions (3 parallel)
- Building a less risky future: How today’s decisions shape disaster risk in the cities of tomorrow, GFDRR & Stanford University
- Global school safety: Reaching for scale through innovation, World Bank Group
- “I understand risk, you misunderstand risk, s/he fails to act”: Learning to anticipate behavioral challenges in pre-disaster decision making, University College London
12:30 – 14:00 Lunch
14:00 – 15:30 Technical sessions (4 parallel)
- Challenges in developing multi-hazard risk models from local to global scale, National Civil Protection Department, Italy, GEM Foundation & CIMA Foundation
- Bridging the divide: Digital humanitarians and the Nepal earthquake, Kathmandu Living Labs & GFDRR
- How risks and shocks impact poverty and why, when, and where can better financial protection help, World Bank Group & GFDRR
- Climate extremes and economic derail: Impacts of extreme weather and climate related events on regional and national economies, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM) & Euro-Mediterranean Centre on Climate Change (CMCC)
15:30 – 16:00 Coffee break
16:00 – 17:30 Closing ceremony & keynote address
Speakers:
- Laura Frigenti, Director, Italian Agency for Development Cooperation
- Laura Tuck, Vice President, Sustainable Development, World Bank Group
Keynote address: Jamais Cascio, futurist
Sendoff address: Gianumberto Accinelli, entomologist