At-risk people and communities, humanitarian and development agencies and those with formal scientific and technological training are all producers and users of disaster risk knowledge – but with different ideas about what is useful or important information. The challenge is in bringing together this wealth of local and scientific knowledge to enable communities to become more resilient in the face of disasters. One crucial way of promoting dialogue and supporting decision making processes are participatory games and exercises.

This event will comprise debate, games and workshop demonstrations led by Emma Visman, author of Knowledge is power, a network paper on using science and technology to enhance community resilience through knowledge exchange. Together with those leading complementary initiatives to support more effective use of science within resilience building, including Pablo Suarez from the Red Cross/Red Crescent Climate Change Centre and Professor Dominic Kniveton from the University of Sussex, we’ll run through a few interactive games and excercises.