African Centre for Disaster Studies - NWU

STINT Project

South-North Disaster Risk Reduction Network – Towards trans-disciplinary research and education for disaster risk reduction

This project aims to establish the foundation for long-term cooperation between one European (Lund University) and two African universities (North-West University and the University of the Free State) in terms of disaster risk reduction education and research. The network is based on mutual interests and joint activities in post-graduate education, research and research supervision, community outreach and exchange of expertise.

The outcome of the project will be a robust network between the three universities, which would form the foundation from which the network can expand if other universities desire to join in the future. Such a network will enable the refinement and wider dissemination of the current research and education in disaster risk reduction, with the long-term aim to develop a new trans-disciplinary research based joint master’s programme in disaster risk reduction. Such curriculum would then be shared openly with any university in the world that desires to set up a sister programme.

The vehicle for the universities to learn more about each other and about how to make effective use of their different foci within disaster risk reduction is the cooperation around research on developing a participatory method for analysing risks and challenges for disaster risk reduction in communities and societies.