ICoE–VaRM
Established in August 2013 by ICSU, ISSC, and UNISDR, the International Center of Excellence on Vulnerability and Resilience Metrics (ICoE-VARM) is providing global leadership in empirically monitoring losses from disasters and in developing new approaches for measuring disaster vulnerability and resilience.
The ICoE-VARM provides core scientific expertise in tools and approaches for measuring social vulnerability, disaster resilience, and loss and damage databases. Specifically the Center of Excellence 1) expands and improves vulnerability and resilience metrics developed for the U.S. context to other regions working collaboratively with partners; 2) provides leadership in improving and harmonizing sub-national hazard event and loss databases; 3) builds capacity through training the next generation of disaster scientists including international students (pre- and post-doctoral) and scientists through short-term study visits; and 4) supports the existing research projects of IRDR related to disaster loss data and integrated assessments.
ICoE and IRDR projects are collaborative in nature and aim to provide global contributions
towards achieving the IRDR legacy. In particular, each established ICoE enables and
supports regional scientific activities through geographically-focused contributions
based on more localized inputs, and by being visible centers of research to movitate
broader participation in the IRDR program.
Research and Outreach Activities
- Products and Outreach
- Mentoring and Collaborative Research
- Disaster Loss Data
- Integrated Assessments
Advisory Board
Kathleen Tierney (University of Colorado, Natural Hazards Center, USA)
Walter Peacock (Texas A&M University, Hazard Reduction and Recovery Center, USA)
David Johnston (Massey University, Director, Joint Centre for Disaster Research, and Director IRDR ICoE in Community Resilience, New Zealand)
Omar Darío Cardona (Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Director IRDR ICoE in Understanding Risk & Safety)
Jörn Birkmann (University of Stuttgart, Director Institute for Spatial Planning and Regional Development)