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Institute of Hazard, Risk and Resilience
IHRR building

Philanthropic Donations

IHRR was borne out of the desire of a few key Geography alumni from Durham University wishing to make a difference to people and communities living with hazard and risk around the world.

A number of philanthropic donors were brought together and generously provided the financial foundation for IHRR on which Durham University then built. This enabled the IHRR building to be constructed and the Wilson Chair to be established.
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IHRR building

 

Ways we work with donors 

We work with donors in a range of ways. These include: 

  • Funding scholarships for PhD students. For example, the Christopher Moyes Memorial Foundation has funded a series of PhD students through IHRR. 
  • Funding scholarships for international students to undertake the Risk Masters. 
  • IHRR was the focus of the Chancellor’s Appeal in 2016 which funded the Actions for Natural Disasters – a cohort of PhD studentships exploring the earthquake in Nepal from a range of perspectives. 
  • Small funding allocated for specific projects. For example to cascade research around a specific topic in a certain location, or to establish an alumni network. 
  • Funding to pump prime or grow specific areas of research. For instance, we have used some philanthropic funding to grow our research around Financial Technologies for Disasters. 

Donors can remain anonymous if they so wish. 

Find out more about Funding.

 

Action on Natural Disasters (AND) Doctoral Training 

Action on Natural Disasters is funded through benevolent donations.  

Action on Natural Disasters (AND) is a Doctoral Training Centre that focuses on interdisciplinary research into the causes, consequences, and mitigation of natural disasters. It is born from an understanding that reducing the impact of future natural disasters depends on understanding not only the physical nature of the events that cause disasters, but also the social, economic, cultural, historical, and political factors that shape their impact on communities that are exposed to them. 

Natural disasters are complex products of triggering events, social context, and community vulnerability. Effective research into natural disasters and their mitigation, therefore, depends upon working across conventional disciplinary boundaries. 

The core goal of the Action on Natural Disasters initiative is to enable a cohort of PhD students to undertake interdisciplinary research that has social impact – mitigating the risks posed by natural hazards by reducing their capacity to become disasters. Research in this DTI will cover the entire disaster cycle from the triggering event of the disaster, through to impacts and response, including evaluation, preparedness, recovery, reconstruction and building resilience in people and communities.