Building Community: Events, Engagement and Partnerships

Media and Public Engagement

Our research gained significant coverage in various media outlets, including: 

• Dr Sonja Ayeb-Karlsson’s work on trafficking risks for unaccompanied children seeking asylum in the UK was covered exclusively by The Guardian. 
• Professor Ilan Kelman provided insights on flooding in Ghana (Climate Change News) and co-authored an article in The Conversation on ‘avoided disasters’, reframing how societies might prevent crises. 
• Dr Dan Haines discussed parallels between earthquakes in colonial India and modern disaster risk reduction on BBC Radio 3’s Free Thinking. 
• Prof Joanna Faure Walker discussed the causes and consequences of the Morocco Earthquake, including in The Times, The Independent and Washington Street Journal.

Policy and Industry Engagement

• Dr Sarah Dryhurst was invited to join the Technical Advisory Group for the Lloyds Register Foundation World Risk Poll, advising on their 2021 and 2023 polls and the design of the next polls for 2025.
• Dr Susannah Fisher was selected as one of four academics to represent UCL at the 60th session of the Subsidiary Bodies of the UNFCCC.
• Dr Rozana Himaz was nominated as a scoping expert for the IPCC's AR7, contributing to the next report.
• Dr Yasmine Sabri was selected to become the academic lead and member of the board of the Humanitarian Logistics Association (HLA) to work on bridging the gap between humanitarian logistics practices and education.
• Prof Patty Kostkova was invited as an expert to the House of Commons parliamentary event on the role of 'British biotech manufacturing: Leading the fight against mosquito-borne diseases'. She was also invited by the Minister of Health, Madeira to deliver a keynote address at their Digital Health Summit 2024.
• Dr Louisa Acciari was invited as one of the guest speakers at the launch of the programme '1000 women', funded by the Brazilian government, offering professional training for 900 domestic workers in 6 cities in Brazil.
• Prof Maureen Fordham received UCL HEIF support for a project with Public Health Wales aimed at enhancing equality in emergency planning.
• A new Bill following Dr Sonja Ayeb-Karlsson's research called 'A Safer Home for Children' was submitted to the Swedish Government's Ministry of Justice.