INTERPRAEVENT 2024 in Vienna and we4DRR networking event

INTERPRAEVENT 2024

The event with lectures, poster presentations, discussion contributions, excursion participants and session leaders was a complete success and very well attended. We experienced a knowledge convention at the highest professional level, a networking meeting in a friendly atmosphere and a culture of discussion with unreserved openness and great appreciation. In cooperation with we4DRR the event organisers could offer a programme for networking and exchange between female professionals working in DRR during the conference.

IMPULSE LECTURE: Gender in DRR – Why bother?

On June 11^th approximately 50 people, men and women, attended the impulse lecture in the Künstlerzimmer with short talks on female contributions to INTERPRAEVENT by Niki Beyer Portner as well as on the role of Gender in DRR by Karin Weber.

Key message from Karin Weber

• FDRR advocates an all-of-society approach in DRR and policy. It calls for integrating a gender, age, disability and cultural perspective in all policies and practices.
• A differentiated view, empathising with other groups of society (children, elderly, people with disabilities, women*, men*...) and their daily living conditions helps us understand the different needs and vulnerabilities in risk situations.
• Observing DRR through a gender-sensitive lens, based on the views of we4DRR members, reveals a certain tendency toward male dominance in institutions and fields of expertise, differences in the division of tasks and wage inequalities.
• This translates into a very nuanced reality of dealing with risks and uncertainties. Therefore, we as DRR practitioners and researchers, constantly need to train to change perspectives and question the way we look at the world, based on our conditioning.

Key messages from Niki Beyer-Portner

• One of the main goals of the research society is the exchange of knowledge and experiences in the field of natural hazard risk assessment and mitigation (reduction).
• One of the tools are the INTERPRAEVENT conferences where experts with different back ground from different countries come together, where also gender is a criterium. 

• The proportion of female participants and speakers is steadily increasing and the quality of their work is great.

• The INTERPRAEVENT has the following mandate from the participants: more diversity also among the moderators and the Impulse Lecture in the plenary. This will continue to be pursued in the future.

we4DRR networking event

On June 12th in the evening at Urania we4DRR invited INTERPRAEVENT participants and network members to a networking evening. The event featured a keynote with Loretta Hieber-Girardet, Chief of the UNDRR Risk Knowledge, Monitoring and Capacity-Development Branch who provided new and global perspectives through a gender lens on risk information and analytics, climate change, disaster loss and monitoring data and capacity-building. 

During the session 4 women-4 paths, we4DRR members Giulia Bossi, Helen Gosteli, Anne Hormes and Maria Patek talked about their career paths in the field of DRR. Participants engaged in an interesting discussion that continued after the official programme on the venue’s rooftop terrace with a great view over Vienna.

Thank you to all speakers and participants to contributing to the pleasant atmosphere and to making this event a great success from which we can keep many good memories.