Urban Disasters and Resilience in Asia

Dr. Rajib Shaw is a professor at Keio University's Graduate School of Media and Governance. He is also the Chairperson of SEEDS Asia and CWS Japan, two Japanese NGOs, and a Senior Fellow of the Institute of Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) Japan. He was previously the Executive Director of the Integrated Research on Disaster Risk (IRDR) and a Kyoto University Professor. Disaster governance, community-based disaster risk management, climate change adaptation, urban risk management, and disaster and environmental education are all areas of interest for him. Professor Shaw is the Chair of the UN Science Technology Advisory Group for Disaster Risk Reduction (STAG) and the Co-Chair of the Asia Science Technology Academic Advisory Group (ASTAAG). He's also the CLA (Coordinating Lead Author) for the IPCC's 6th Assessment Report's Asia chapter. He is the editor-in-chief of the journal "Progress in Disaster Science" published by Elsevier, as well as the series editor of a Springer book series on disaster risk reduction. Prof. Shaw has over 45 books to his credit, as well as over 300 scholarly papers and book chapters.

Renowned scientist Dr. Atta-ur-Rahman was appointed as the chairman of United Nations’ committee on Science, Technology and Innovation in March 2016. Formerly Professor Emeritus, International Center for Chemical and Biological Sciences (H. E. J. Research Institute of Chemistry and Dr. Panjwani Center for Molecular Medicine and Drug Research), University of Karachi, Pakistan, he was Pakistan Federal Minister for Science and Technology (2000-2002), Federal Minister of Education (2002), and Chairman of the Higher Education Commission with the status of a Federal Minister from 2002-2008. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of London (FRS) and an UNESCO Science Laureate. A leading scientist, he also has over 930 publications to his name in several fields of organic chemistry.

Dr. Akhilesh Surjan has successfully engaged with issues of climate and disaster risk reduction and urban environmental management. He served as a Lead Author for the Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). He also served as Contributing Author for the UN’s Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction, published in May 2011. While mainly associated with UN agencies, Dr Surjan has also successfully worked in academic, civil society, and government institutions in Asia. In the past, he has deliberated upon risk management issues from the platform of Disaster Management Institute, Bhopal (India)- established in the aftermath of the Bhopal Gas Tragedy of 1984. Under UNDP’s Disaster Risk Management Program, he facilitated mainstreaming of community-based disaster preparedness concepts in Indian government’s policy, planning, and implementation. At United Nations University and Kyoto University, Dr Surjan’s contributions were directed towards issues of urban sustainability, disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation. He is particularly focusing on issues surrounding sustainability of development, and adaptation concerns of emerging cities. Presently working with the Charles Darwin University, Dr Surjan is the Research & Theme Leader of Humanitarian, Emergency and Disaster Management Studies. Dr Surjan was trained at Kyoto University where he successfully completed his doctoral study, an empirical action-research focusing on resilience to environment and disaster risk reduction in the Asia-Pacific region. Dr Surjan is also a trained architect-planner – an interest zone that keeps him enthused when free.

Gulsan Ara Parvin is researcher in the Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies of Kyoto University, Japan. She has 12 years of teaching and research experience at Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET). She was an Associate Professor in the Urban and Regional Planning Department of BUET. Dr. Parvin was awarded a postdoctoral fellowship from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science to conduct research at Kyoto University from 2007 to 2010. She obtained her Ph.D degree from the Urban Engineering Department of the University of Tokyo in 2003 and M.Sc degree from Agriculture Conservation and Rural Development Program of Asian Institute of Technology in 1999. She acquired her BURP degree from Khulna University, Bangladesh. She has several publications in international journals and journals. Her research interests mostly concentrate on community development, vulnerability and disaster management for the poor, climate change impact and adaptation, women’s empowerment, and the role of NGOs.