Mitigating the impacts of volcanic eruptions and identifying and improving the resilience of high-risk communities is increasingly acknowledged as a high societal priority. In the past, society has tended to be reactive rather than proactive when it comes to volcanic eruptions and their subsequent disasters. The UN Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction and other agreements and initiatives promote proactive behaviour so that societies are fully prepared and ready to react when threatened by hazardous event(s). To minimize and mitigate disasters caused by volcanic eruptions, it is necessary to assess both the hazard (e.g. identify areas likely to be affected by volcanic hazards, and the hazard severity) and how society can best respond to the hazard(s) and resulting impact(s). This session welcomes contributions concerning novel strategies for modelling volcanic hazards in the context of risk assessment; ways of identifying and characterizing vulnerability and elements at risk; vulnerability and risk assessment in a multi-hazard setting; and how hazard modelling and risk assessment can be combined to increase preparedness and implement mitigation measures.