Join us in the launch of our new Reference Guide!

Disasters are often portrayed as equal opportunity offenders, affecting everyone in the impacted area. Whilst the process of a hazard becoming a disaster will have a degree of impact on every individual or community, these impacts will not be uniform across society. Recognition that gender influences an individual's ability to respond to and recover from a disaster has been established for decades, enjoying a relative influx of funding and interest in the area. However, within the disaster risk reduction and management communities, the concept of gender has not been fully expanded. Within the field “gender” has often been synonymous with cisgender women and girls, whilst men, boys and gender minorities have been largely overlooked. Similarly, the specific needs and capacities of sexual minorities has all but been ignored in broader disaster research and discussions.

On the International Day of Disaster Risk Reduction, join the Gender Responsive Resilience and Intersectionality in Policy and Practice (GRRIPP) Project in launching the latest Bibliography and Reference Guide titled "Gender and Sexual Minorities in Disaster Risk Reduction". The Reference Guide Development team will discuss the process of making the guide along with their findings and reflections on gender and sexual minorities in DRR which will be followed by a Q&A with the audience. We welcome students, scholars, practitioners, policy makers, and anyone who strives for a more inclusive future!

The talk will begin at 18:00 and will finish at 19:00, followed by an hour of refreshments in the South Cloisters.

The Reference Guide Team and Panellists include:

• Professor Maureen Fordham: Maureen is the Director of the IRDR Centre for Gender and Disaster and has been researching disasters since 1988 and is an expert on community-based disaster risk reduction and vulnerability analysis, focusing on the inclusion of a range of marginalised social groups in disaster risk reduction, especially women and girls. She was a founding member of the Gender and Disaster Network in 1997 and is the Coordinator of its website and activities.
• Olivia Walmsley: Olivia (she/her) is the Global Monitoring and Evaluation Coordinator for the GRRIPP Project and a Co-Director of the IRDR Centre for Gender and Disaster. Olivia has led the development of GRRIPPs and the Centre's Reference Guide Series. Olivia holds a BA in Geography and an MSc in Risk, Disaster and Resilience from IRDR, UCL.
• Kevin Blanchard: Kevin Blanchard MSc FRGS (he/him) is an experienced policymaker, trainer and advocate focused on helping to ensure the inclusion, visibility and empowerment of marginalised and hyper-marginalised groups in disaster risk reduction (DRR). Kevin works internationally alongside grassroots organisations, educational institutions, national governments, UN organisations and charities to develop inclusive policy, training & practical guidance. Kevin is also the founder of DRR Dynamics.
• Jessica Roberts: Jess is an early career gender and sexuality researcher. They graduated from the LSE with a distinction in MSc Gender (Research), specialising in queer socio-linguistics. They have presented primary data from their research at two international conferences and have recently been working with UCL Centre for Gender and Disaster on the GRRIPP project. Their other interests include disability advocacy and, in their downtime, Jess loves to do embroidery.
• Eshka Chuck: Eshka (they/she) is a first-year philosophy MPhil student at UCL, where they have just graduated from their BA. She specialises in moral (anti) aggregation and climate ethics. On the side, they try to get involved with any LGBTQ+-related research they can, most recently: improvements to trans healthcare in the UK (contributing to the Cass Review). Her other interests include campaigning for changes to LGBTQ+ and neurodivergent inclusivity at UCL and, time-permitting, doing the odd bit of digital animation.

You will also be able to join us online! Please follow our social media pages for more information on how to register for virtual participation.

Twitter: @UCL_CD , @GRRIPP

LinkedIn: @cgdonline

To check out previous reference guides, head to:

https://www.grripp.net/referenceguide

https://www.ucl.ac.uk/risk-disaster-reduction/research/centre-gender-and-disaster/resources

https://www.gdnonline.org/resources