2016 UNDERSTANDING RISK FORUM

From May 16-20, 2016 over 650 members of the UR Community attended the fourth global forum in Venice, Italy. The five days were filled with over 50 sessions, including training events, workshops, technical sessions and plenaries. With representation from 100 countries and over 350 organizations, the fourth forum was the most global yet.

We hope that you had the opportunity to forge relationships with new contacts from outside of your field. To download the list of attendees, click here.

What do we think when we think about understanding risk? Click here for the word cloud generated from the responses from the interactive session during the opening ceremony.

Resources

Download the UR2016 Proceedings here.

Presentations can be found in the individual technical session and Focus Day pages, if we have received them from session leads. Please access individual pages for technical sessions here and Focus Day events here.

Check out pictures from UR2016.

All videos can be accessed on YouTube here.

Format & Program

Check out the program and list of topics.

In the afternoon of Wednesday, May 18 the main conference kicked off beginning with an opening ceremony and keynote speakers. Ignite presentations in the evening offered attendees an overview of the 19 technical sessions that occurred on Thursday and Friday. Scattered throughout the last two days, plenaries brought together delegates and activities showcase the culture of our host city.

Focus Days

Prior to the main conference, Focus Days allowed organizations to manage their own workshops, stakeholder meetings, training sessions or other activities. Focus Days were held on Monday, May 16 through the morning of Wednesday, May 18. UR2016 Focus Days included more than 30 side events. Check out the agenda and sessions for the Focus Days.

Blogs

Interested in learning more about the topics being discussed at UR2016? Check out our blog page.

Organization

The organization of the conference (program, logistics, coordination etc.) was led by the GFDRR Innovation Lab.

Event Sessions

• The domino effect: The future of quantifying compounding events in deltas
• The final mile: Connecting an impact-based warning service to decision making
• Breaking barriers for the common good: Open data and shared risk analysis in support of multilateral action

• Bridging the divide: Digital humanitarians and the Nepal earthquake
• Reinforcing foundations: The role of the insurance industry in critical infrastructure
• Check the vitals: Making infrastructure more resilient
• Putting people first: Practices, challenges and innovations in characterizing and mapping social groups
• When uncertainty is certain: Tools for improved decision making for weather and climate
• Map Slam: Revealing the common misperceptions about El Niño and La Niña
• Communicating for action: What’s needed?
• Reading the tea leaves: When risk models fail to predict disaster impacts
• “I understand risk, you misunderstand risk, s/he fails to act”: Learning to anticipate behavioral challenges in pre-disaster decision making
• How risks and shocks impact poverty and why, when, and where can better financial protection help
• Understanding risk is essential for the implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030: Targeting the future with science and technology
• Asking the hard questions: The impact of climate change on our decisions
• Climate extremes and economic derail: Impacts of extreme weather and climate related events on regional and national economies
• Challenges in developing multi-hazard risk models from local to global scale
• Global school safety: Reaching for scale through innovation
• Disruptors: Cutting edge technologies that are changing the way we understand risk
• Building a less risky future: How today’s decisions shape disaster risk in the cities of tomorrow
• Resilience Dialogue – Technology, Disaster Risk, and the Gender Divide