Postgraduate Programs in Disaster Management (PPDM) of Department of Architecture, BRAC University, arranged a one-day roundtable conference titled “Partnering with Academic Institutions and International Organizations: An Integrated Approach to Mitigating Disaster Risk” on 17th February, 2018. The conference explored new opportunities and ways to strengthen the existing collaborative activities for establishing a partnership between academic institutes and international development organizations, which are actively involved in mainstreaming disaster risk reduction.
Key objectives of the conference were to initiate training programs, workshops, internships and fieldwork sessions in a collaborative manner. It also aimed to open up the possibilities of receiving institutional, technical and financial support from international organizations for running academic programs and research activities. The conference had discussion sessions on sub-themes such as a) developing academic curriculum for mitigating disaster risks, b) building institutional capacity to enhance outreach programs, c) reimagining the classroom as hands-on, field-based, data-driven and problem-solving exercises and d) how international development agencies can collaborate with academic institutions. The conference was attended by faculty members of BRAC University, academics, researchers, students and delegates from various organizations such as HelpAge, Plan International Bangladesh, Dhaka University, Jahangirnagar University, etc.