The UNU–EHS has joined an interdisciplinary consortium of over 60 European higher education institutions to improve disaster preparedness in cities.
Inspired by UNISDR's Making Cities Resilient campaign, the ANDROID network promotes cooperation among actors from human, natural, and social disciplines and will reinforce connections among education, research and society on disaster resilience.
4 September 2012: The UN University (UNU) Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU–EHS) has joined the Academic Network for Disaster Resilience to Optimize Educational Development (ANDROID). This network aims to improve disaster preparedness in cities worldwide by promoting cooperation and innovation among the European higher education community.
The ANDROID consortium will analyze and compare the capacity of European cities and the higher education community to address disaster risk and improve disaster resilience to disasters from both natural and human origins. ANDROID recognizes that addressing disaster risk is a continuous process that requires collaboration among scientists from applied human, natural and social disciplines.
The UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) Making Cities Resilient campaign, which advocates for local government commitment to build disaster resilience, inspired the interdisciplinary ANDROID consortium. The University of Salford’s Center for Disaster Resilience, in the UK, leads the network, which has participation from 64 European higher education institutions and three institutions in Australia, Canada and Sri Lanka. An EU grant of €800,000 supports the project. [UNU Press Release]