Enabling the Next Generation of Hazards and Disasters Researchers

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Every year natural, technological, and human-induced hazards impact millions of people worldwide, resulting in thousands of deaths and billions of dollars of damage. Attracting new scholars to the fields of hazards, risk, and disasters is vital for advancing knowledge that can lead to disaster loss reduction and overall improvement in the management of emergencies and disasters. The "Enabling the Next Generation of Hazards and Disasters Researchers" program [hereafter the Enabling Program] will support junior faculty at universities in developing research and teaching efforts that inform disaster loss reduction and improve the ways in which hazards and disasters are addressed. The aims of the Enabling Program are to: (1) foster the development of scholars with a career-long commitment to research on hazards, risk, and disasters; (2) contribute to the nation's future research capacity and infrastructure for reducing disaster loss; and (3) add important original scientific knowledge to the areas of hazards, risk, and disasters to reduce societal vulnerability. Vulnerability and risk reduction require systematic interdisciplinary efforts for improving all phases of disaster management and to the development of resiliency on a broad scale. In addition to incorporating a wide variety of disciplines that inform the challenge of risk reduction, the Enabling Program is also committed to recruiting and mentoring women and members of underrepresented groups.The Enabling Program is crucial to the advancement of knowledge in the interdisciplinary hazards field, which relies on scholars committed both to their own disciplines and to theoretical and applied aspects of the hazards and disasters field. This is a unique combination, and through the mentoring process, the Enabling Program encourages a distinctive type of scholarly development and builds commitment to the hazards and disasters field. As such, the program offers significant research contributions. First, it continues to help build a cohort of researchers who can understand and address the complex interactions between the social, built, and natural environment associated with hazards. The Enabling Program will build on the success of previous rounds that resulted in an impressive level of scholarly output. Additionally, by continuing a model of explicit encouragement of interdisciplinary education and training around hazards and disasters, the program will assist younger researchers in enhanced research quality and quantity, which benefits every region across the U.S.