IRES: Quantifying Disaster Risk Reduction Geographic Information Capacity with United Nations University Institute for Environment and Human Security and University of Bonn Germany

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Non technical abstract:This International Research Experience for Students (IRES) is focused on quantifying disaster risk reduction geographic information capacities. Each year, a cohort of five U.S. graduate students from the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) will participate in a ten-week summer research experience with collaborators at the United Nations University Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS) and the University of Bonn (UBonn) - both located in Bonn, Germany. Highlights of collaborative activities include student access to and learning from UNU-EHS, UBonn, and other international disaster risk reduction experts, student research training activities, spatial data set acquisition, and access to international scientific networks only available in Bonn. The primary student research project is to create and rigorously evaluate a Disaster Risk Reduction - Information Capacity Index (DRR-ICI). A DRR-ICI currently does not exist. The scientific purpose of the DRR-ICI is to quantify and evaluate how disaster risk reduction geographic information capacities such as information availability, scale and relevancy vary within Germany and from country to country. The project will advance discovery and understanding while promoting teaching, training, and learning by creating unique linkages to international organizations that will train, educate and professionally develop the next generation of interdisciplinary STEM research scientists focused on disaster risk reduction and GIS. Intellectual products created by IRES students, such as the DRR-ICI, will provide important benefits to society that can bring global attention to disaster risk reduction research and GIS potentially saving lives when disasters occur. The project is particularly strong in enhancing infrastructure for research and education as IRES students will become part of both the UN and German disaster stakeholder networks that are only available by being on-site in Bonn.Technical abstract:The research team will create transformative knowledge on understanding the relationship between geographic information capacity and disaster risk reduction ? an area that has received little research attention despite the overall importance of geographic information for disaster risk reduction. Student research efforts to create and evaluate a DRR-ICI will make valuable intellectual contributions to understanding (a) how disaster risk reduction geographic information capacity is itself a disaster risk factor, (b) how geographic information capacity can be tied to geographic information best practices, and (c) comparing geographic information capacities between countries and sub-national levels within countries to inform disaster management decision making. The DRR-ICI developed by students will provide practical, intellectual products for disaster risk reduction teaching and learning that can transition into real use in the event of a disaster.