China-Australia Disaster Management International Symposium (CADMIS 2016)

A busy couple of months in the Centre and just catching up on the activities.

July saw the Centre co-chair the first China-Australia Disaster Management International Symposium in Nanjing along with Hohai University (our hosts) and the Huaihe River Commission of the Ministry of Water Resources.

The symposium consisted of presentations, discussion and engagement that took place over the two days to further advance the field of disaster management for both China and Australia.

The symposium aims included:
1. to present and discuss the latest innovations, research and practice related to disaster management within the context of a global disaster management platform
2. to establish and extend partnerships between China and Australia. Thirdly, to develop a future research agenda to tackle identified disaster management issues identified for China and Australia; and
3. to exchange ideas and to contribute to knowledge in the disaster management field.

The symposium brought together researchers and practitioners from the following organisations:
* Hohai University
* The University of Melbourne
* The Huaihe River Commission of the Ministry of Water Resources
* The China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research
* Beijing University of Chemical Technology
* Nanjing University of Finance and Economics
* Dongbei University of Finance and Economics

A key topic of the symposium was the Global Disaster Management Platform (GDMP). The GDMP is a collaborative international research project funded by the University of Melbourne – under the International Research and Research Training Fund (IRRTF) that is led by the CDMPS at the University of Melbourne. The project aims to develop a platform that can bring together and connect communities dedicated to the disaster field to enable them to share and collaborate. Partner countries in this project include China, India, Chile and Brazil.

Through this China-Australia international research symposium, achieving the GDMP vision of an interactive, coordinated and smart disaster management community that delivers positive outcomes for wider society has been brought closer to being realised.