We’ve recently celebrated our 4th birthday! Since our work started in 2011 we’ve had some great adventures, met some inspiring people and learnt a lot. Most of our work is taking place in universities around the UK. Through seminars and events we suspect that more UK geology students are being introduced to their role in international development than at any time previously. Alongside ...[Read More]
Whilst geologists are often trained in the technical aspects of natural hazards, our courses are often devoid of information on what causes disasters, how we can better avoid them and effective disaster management. Recent events in Nepal highlight that hazard does not simply equal disaster, but that we must understand what drives exposure and vulnerability to be so high in certain parts of the wor ...[Read More]
Jane Robb is GfGD’s University Groups Training Programme Officer, and a new PhD student at the Natural Resources Institute, University of Greenwich. Jane has just returned from Guatemala, where she was meeting with community groups and exploring land use issues. Here she shares some of the highlights of her trip with us. In 2014 I started my PhD in Natural Resources at the Natural Resources ...[Read More]
We’ll be taking a break from blogging for the next fortnight. Don’t forget you can find a wide range of articles in our archives on topics from water, hazards, disasters and more.
At the weekend we published a selection of reading on the geological and humanitarian aspects of the Nepal earthquake. Over recent days much has been written reflecting on aspects of disaster relief and learning lessons as soon as possible from this awful event, to reduce the impact of future geohazards. These articles are accessible and give geoscientists much to consider: Ilan Kelman (UCL IRDR) ...[Read More]
In the coming weeks there’ll be time for reflection, for debate, for advocacy to build back better. Today the priority has to be ensuring a swift and effective response – getting clean water, food, shelter, medical aid to those that desperately need it. The UK Disasters Emergency Committee is a collective of UK development organisations, working together in emergency situations. They l ...[Read More]
(Updated: 27th April 2015) Almost all of you will have seen the tragic news coming from Nepal. A magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck the region between Pokhara and Kathmandu, with at least 1000 killed at the time of writing. This number is likely to go up in the coming hours and days as the true extent of the devastation becomes apparent. Here we note some recommend reading and news sources on the eve ...[Read More]
Yesterday, the European Geosciences Union (EGU) General Assembly in Vienna played host to an informal discussion on ‘best practice’ when working in the global South. Organised by Geology for Global Development, the event gave people an opportunity to reflect on the skills and practices that could be integrated into our geoscience work to promote sustainability and support development w ...[Read More]
These photographs were taking during the European Geoscience Union (EGU) General Assembly in Vienna, at a short course on Natural Hazard Teaching Demonstrations (Photo Credits: Bruce D. Malamud, Faith Taylor, Joel Gill): In the coming weeks we will start collating photographed examples of teaching demonstrations with teaching guidlines in captions. We hope to use the EGU Imaggeo Site ...[Read More]
This week we’re reporting live from the European Geoscience Union (EGU) General Assembly in Vienna. Yesterday afternoon was the turn of the Geoethics session, which has become something of a regular feature in my EGU diary over the past four years. Organised by the International Association for Promoting Geoethics (IAPG), the session began by looking at ‘Geoethics at the Heart of Geosc ...[Read More]