NATRISK: Enhancing risk management and resilience to natural hazards in India, Brazil and Norway through collaborative education, research and innovation

The NATRISK international partnership for enhancing risk management & resilience to natural hazards through collaboration in research, education and innovation connects expertise from Brazil, India, and Norway. The partnership focuses on excellence in education and research to reduce risk and increase societal resilience to natural hazards in steep terrain. NATRISK aims to develop new links and strengthen existing ties between key research institutes, universities, and public agencies from the partner countries. NATRISK also aims to facilitate the exchange of researchers, practitioners, managers, and students, disseminate knowledge and expertise to municipalities and the business sector, and foster international education and research on natural hazards, risk, resilience, and associated disciplines.

The activities in NATRISK are based on four education packages for collective scientific advancement: 1. Understanding natural hazards, multihazards, & cascading effects, 2. Quantifying & assessing risk, 3. Mitigating, perceiving, & communicating risk, 4. Managing disaster risk & enhancing resilience. The target audience is graduate students, researchers and practitioners. Education packages consist of two components – an online module and an in-person research- and experience-based course. The online modules are standalone introductions to the scientific themes and are openly accessible to anyone. The modules promote international rapid accessibility, guiding interested parties towards an understanding of these complex topics in geohazards. The course is structured with both in-person lectures and field excursions.

The NATRISK partnership consists of three research institutes, four universities, and three public agencies: (1) the Natural Hazards Division – Norwegian Geotechnical Institute (NGI), (2) the Central Road Research Institute – Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CRRI, India), (3) National Early Warning and Monitoring Centre for Natural Disasters (CEMADEN, Brazil); (4) the Department of Earth Science – University of Bergen (UiB, Norway), (5) the Department of Civil Engineering – Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IITB), (6) the Department of Earthquake Engineering – Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee (IITR), (7) the Department of Civil Construction and the Department of Geography – Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ); and (8) Ullensvang municipality (Norway), (9) Nova Friburgo Municipality (Brazil), and (10) the Building Materials and Technology Promotion Council (BMTPC, India).

The NATRISK partnership is financed by the Research Council of Norway (project number 337241) and is running from 2023 to 2028.