Keynote Speakers

Keynote Speakers Research Interests

Prof. Loannis Pitas

Department of Informatics of AUTH and a chair of the International AI Doctoral Academy

AI and Big Data Analytics for Natural Hazards in Disaster Risk Management

Dr Olivia Kunguma

Disaster Management Training and Education Centre Free State University (UFS)’s

Alert and Warning in the Climate Change Era: Reconsidering a Risk Communication Consensus.

Prof. Ranjan Datta

Canada Research Chair in Community Disaster Research

Indigenous Knowledge in Disaster Risk Reduction and Prevention through Development Policies in African Regions.

KEY TOPICS

• The Risk concept in history and across various scientific domains;

• Variability of risk determinants/components: exposure, hazard, vulnerability, adaptive capacity, resilience;

• Spatial and temporal aspects of systemic risk;

• The past and the future of risks, crises, and disasters;

• Risk in education and learning in and beyond;

• Spatial databases for risk assessment and mapping;

• Risk assessment methods capturing the variability of risk;

• Areas/Africa regions, hot spots for hazards, risks, and disasters (geophysical, meteorological, hydrological, climatological);

• Vulnerability- and resilience-based social-spatial inequalities;

• New technologies for hazard and risk observation and monitoring;

• Historical and contemporary (disaster) risk management paradigms;

• Spatial and temporal issues of the disaster risk management cycle;

• Urgency and uncertainty in crisis management;

• Management models adapting to the variability of risk; • Engineering and non-engineering safety regulations in different eras and contexts;

• Past and new technologies in risk and crisis management;

• Emerging risk identification in African cities and vulnerable rural communities

• Multi-stakeholder dialogue and risk communication: Bridging the communication gap

• Risk perception and communication in different regions, cultures, and eras;

• Systemic risk communication and governance;

• Risk governance case studies for different African regions;

• Policies for enhancing personal, community, institutional, and urban resilience;

• Climate Change mitigation and adaptation policies;

• Risk-based Spatial Planning;

• Early warning, emergency response, decision-making, and resilience building

• Risks and Disaster insurance policies in risk management

• Temporal/spatial analysis and management of geophysical hazards and risks;

• Temporal/spatial analysis and management of Climate Change hazards and risks;

• History and geography of public health, epidemic, and pandemic risks;

• Food Security/Safety in SADC and beyond;

• Risk Culture and Acceptable Risk in and beyond

• (Disaster) Risk management and Local knowledge/cultural Inclusion

• International and regional standards for climatic disaster risk