UKCDS, in collaboration with the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), the Department for International Development (DfID), the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) have recently published a review of international research funding on societal impacts of natural hazards.

‘Societal Impacts of Natural Hazards: A review of international research funding’ was completed by Roger Few and Jenni Barclay from the University of East Anglia, in order to help funding decision-makers in the strategic targeting of support for research in this field. The broad objectives of this report were to:
1. review the existing international ‘landscape’ of support for research on societal impacts of natural hazards (across the full range of relevant disciplines)
2. draw out lessons and insights from the review, including bodies providing existing support, together with expert perspectives on funding needs and opportunities, to inform the strategic development of future research investment in this field.

The review covered support for research that improves prediction and analysis of the physical threat from hazards, their impacts on people and society, the causes and patterns of vulnerability, processes of response, and the design of measures to prevent, mitigate, prepare for and recover from hazard events.

A number of national and international programmes and initiatives are underway but the report does highlight the need for better coordination at all scales. The authors found that programmes directed toward ‘end-users’ are an under-explored aspect of a research field that has such important implications for society.

Professor John Rees, NERC’s Natural Hazards theme leader said, "The publication of this research funding review is extremely timely given Lord Paddy Ashdown’s recognition of the need for good science and evidence in his recent Humanitarian Emergency Response Review , that was commissioned by DfID. We will continue work with the international disaster community to implement the research recommendations of this review.’‘

Key recommendations resulting from the review are:
• address significant gaps in understanding, including those related to under-researched hazards, social dimensions of risk, and processes of response
• direct more research and research support toward developing countries facing a high burden of risk
• develop urgency funding and also introduce modes of funding to enable research that addresses processes over longer time-frames
• support multi-hazards and climate change research approaches within  integrated disaster risk research where appropriate
• promote inter-disciplinary approaches through generation of supporting activities and by reducing barriers to inter-disciplinarity
• strengthen the two-way links between researcher providers and research users in generating research programmes as well as experiment with mechanisms to support more effective partnerships without reducing the quality of research outputs
• support the integration of existing datasets, the systematic collection of new data and knowledge synthesis
• build on existing national and international initiatives to support creation of national research platforms  

You can download the full review ‘Societal Impacts of Natural Hazards: A review of international research funding’ (pdf 662kb).