�����������

 
The , , is pleased to announce that a public lecture entitled Islands and disasters: lessons from a “s���ڱ�” city-island-state will be delivered on Friday 3 November by Dr Geoff Main from the University of Exeter (Cornwall, UK), at GWHD1 (Gateway Building, Hall D1) between 17:30 and 19:00.

Synopsis: Islands face challenges and vulnerabilities relating to the impacts and responses to disasters, yet they also possess strengths and characteristics of resilience and, in some cases, pivotal disaster knowledges. Such discussions have relationships with the changing histories of islands from colonialism to global neoliberalism. However, the challenges that exist in defining ‘i�������Ի�’, ‘small island’, and ‘d���������ٱ��’, and the importance given to Small Island Developing States in UN frameworks, pose difficulties when considering other islands and island-states. Through research, this is exemplified through the archipelagic, highly urbanised city-island-state of Malta. Here, while hazards and disasters may be relatively infrequent, future impacts from such events may be highly significant given the rate of continued economic development and growth in the population at risk.

Bionote: Dr Geoff Main is a Lecturer in the Centre for Geography and Environmental Science in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Exeter (Cornwall, UK). His research interests cover natural hazards and their interactions with human society with a specialist focus on small island states, vulnerability and resilience, disaster risk reduction, urban geography and sustainability, and geographical pedagogy.

Further details can be obtained by contacting  on either 2340 2975 or by email.