Recently, there have been numerous initiatives by the larger community on the topic of hazard and risk science (see the list below), however many of these efforts are driven by individual research projects and collaborations. The IAVCEI community has until now lacked a unified long-term vision for the advancement of science related to volcanic hazards and particularly in considering volcanic risk. Instigating a commission on volcanic hazards and risk is both timely and community-driven. There is both a research push from volcanologists working at the frontiers between volcanic hazard and risk and a societal pull coming from the increased need for systematised, universal approaches to analysing and characterising volcanic hazards. There are difficult fundamental questions that need to be asked about the role of volcanologists in providing and driving advice and analysis in this domain and it will become increasingly important to provide a professional forum for that discussion.
A number of activities have taken place in recent years that correspond directly to advancement of volcanic hazards research, demonstrating the high level of both interest and dynamism in the community in this area. Previous and ongoing initiatives have been supported by projects from government funding agencies raised by individuals, or collaborative groups of researchers, combined with IAVCEI contributions largely through the Commission on Explosive Volcanism.
One of the objectives of this commission is to unify the ongoing efforts which relate to hazard and risk research which are currently being undertaken by many in the community to and to broaden the impacts of those efforts by ensuring that outcomes feed across the broader span of the IAVCEI community.
List of some of the related recent initiatives:
- 2013 Volcano Observatories Best Practices 2, November 2013 in Erice, Italy. (WOVO activity organised by P. Papale).
- 2013 2nd VUELCO WORKSHOP entitled “Scientific advice, decision-making, risk communication” Nov. 7 – 8, 2013 in Rome (Italy). (Organised by J. Gottsmann).
- 2013 Workshop on Applying computational models to real-case scenarios for volcanic hazard assessment. Funded by National Science Foundation – Pan-American Advanced Studies Institute Program (PASI). (organised by E. Spiller & E. Calder)
- 2011 Workshop on The analysis of probabilistic volcanic hazards. University at Buffalo, May 2011, Sponsored by NSF and IAVCEI. (Organised by E. Calder)
- 2010 Summer school on Computer models and geophysical risk analysis. August 2010, University of British Columbia, Sponsored by Pacific Institute for the Mathematical Sciences and NSF. (Organised by E. Calder, JL. Palma, M. Sheridan, J. Bajo, B. Martinez-Hackert.) (http://www.pims.math.ca/scientific-event/100806-sscmgra).
(please email the group mangers if you would like to have an activity that you have organised (2010 onwards) added to this list).