Abstract

Humanity faces significant sustainability challenges and opportunities, amongst which are reducing vulnerability to hazards including climate change alongside maintaining healthy populations and environments. Health research and disaster studies stand at the forefront of developing solutions, yet they often pursue the research separately. This seminar proposes specific projects for bringing together science on global health, disaster risk reduction, and disaster response, through using island case studies. Examples are (i) combining disaster diplomacy and health diplomacy, (ii) the psychological effects of climate change impacts and adaptation, and (iii) using performing arts for health and disaster risk communication.

Ilan Kelman http://www.ilankelman.org/ is a Reader in Risk, Resilience and Global Health at University College London, England. His overall research interest is linking disasters and health, including the integration of climate change into disaster research and health research. He works on three main areas: (i) disaster diplomacy and health diplomacy http://www.disasterdiplomacy.org/ ; (ii) island sustainability involving safe and healthy communities in isolated locations http://www.islandvulnerability.org/ ; and (iii) risk education for health and disasters http://www.riskred.org.