PhD students and early-career researchers from all over Europe came together recently for the first Summer School under the auspices of the EU project RISC-KIT. The summer course, organised by EurOcean, together with Consorzio Futuro in Ricerca from the University of Ferrara, was the first of two planned for the project. The theme of the first course was Disaster Risk Reduction for Coastal Areas, and took place from 12-16 September in Ferrara, Italy.
During the week, the students learned about the RISC-KIT tools from the researchers who developed them. These included the Coastal Risk Assessment Framework tool, with LISFLOOD and INDRA components, a tool that identifies vulnerability hotspots along a selected coastal stretch.
Working with a subset of data from the RISC-KIT Case Study site Porto Garibaldi-Bellocchio, students were challenged to identify and assess vulnerabilities and indicators of risk from the study site.
The course also introduced the RISC-KIT Web-based Management Guide, a resource that will be available online and will help users to select and compare management strategies that best suit their region, bearing in mind the social values and behaviours of the local population.
During the course, a field trip was organised, taking in the Porto-Garibaldi urban coastline and coastal lagoon, which is the largest natural reserve in Emilia Romagna and a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Dr. Luisa Perini from the Geological Service, Emilia-Romagna Region, also dropped by to answer questions about management of the Porto Garibaldi-Bellocchio case study site.
The week was both challenging and engaging and was deeply appreciated by the students and staff alike.
The second RISC-KIT "Summer" School, also organised by EurOcean in collaboration with the University of the Algarve, will teach how to set up and run the models constituting the RISC-KIT tools, particularly addressing how to set up and run the Bayesian models to predict the outcomes of management decisions. Applications will be accepted until 14 October. For more information visit the RISC-KIT Summer School webpage.
