Commissioned by the GO Science Foresight ‘Improving Future Disaster Anticipation and Resilience project' - which was initiated in response to issues raised in the UK Department for International Development (DFID)'s 2011 Humanitarian Emergency Response Review (HERR) - this workshop builds on existing efforts supported by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and the UK Collaborative in Development Science (UKCDS) to make space for more systematic dialogue between scientists and humanitarian and development policymakers and the communities and partners with whom they work.

The current initiative is a collaboration between Enhanced Learning and Research for Humanitarian Action (ELRHA); Humanitarian Futures Programme (HFP), King's College London; Save the Children UK (SC UK); the Consortium of British Humanitarian Agencies (CBHA); the Development Studies Association (DSA) and HelpAge International (HAI). Climate scientists from the End to End Quantification of Uncertainty for Impacts Prediction (EQUIP) and those who have been participating in a climate science-humanitarian policy exchange coordinated by HFP are also partnering in the first workshop stemming from this collaboration.

This workshop will consider the different types of impact required within social and natural science research, humanitarian and development policy and practice, that is demanded when engaging with directly affected communities. The forum will share views from across those engaged in developing monitoring and evaluation of impact from across these different communities, consider how each considers ‘impact' and seek to identify how best to develop indicators of shared relevance.

Part of the discussion will specifically focus on the current divides across the humanitarian, disaster risk reduction and development communities, and the opportunity for linking these through an integrated resilience lens. The afternoon will showcase and explore a number of approaches which have been effective in creating cross-disciplinary, cross-sectoral frameworks which have resulted in demonstrable impact in strengthening community resilience.

The workshop will also consider the relative opportunities and challenges for incentivising cross-disciplinary approaches.