=== Main purpose of the commission and justification ===

The commission on volcanic hazards and risk will be dedicated to applied volcanology, a key realm of volcanology that occupies the front line between academic research and governmental organizations that are responsible for decision-making and policy processes that reduce the impact of volcanic hazards on society. The commission will focus on understanding, quantifying and communicating the hazards, the extent and likelihood of their occurrence and assessing their impacts and the societal vulnerabilities they create from near to far-field. The work in this commission will also unify some efforts covered across other commissions: one example is the tephra hazard modeling commission which is a dynamic community developing and utilizing advanced approaches, but that works in some isolation relative to other volcanic hazards. One objective of the hazards and risk commission would be to improve the level of integration of hazard mapping and modeling approaches across the spectrum of volcanic hazards, as ultimately most volcanic hazard maps include integrated information. There is also some natural overlap of interest with the Commission of Statistics in Volcanology and thus we plan to work closely with both these commissions to maximise mutual benefits.

Recently, there have been numerous and high quality efforts by the larger community in this area (see previous activities section below), however to some extent they represent dispersed, efforts driven by individual research projects and groups. The IAVCEI community still lacks a unified long-term vision for the advancement of science related to volcanic hazards and particularly in considering volcanic risk. In particular, those working for government institutions generating hazard maps have noted the paucity of available guidance, best practices and training experiences and often times feel far removed from the forefront of relevant research developments. 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 more important to provide a professional forum for that discussion.

We propose an interim leadership team (comprised of the principal commission proponents) which would initiate the commission activities and carry the commission though to COV8 in 2014, where we would decide on a 3-year leadership team by open vote. Subsequent leadership will be decided at IAVCEI general assemblies on a 4-year cycle. 

Interim leadership: 

'''Commission leader, Eliza Calder'''

'''Vice-chair (hazards), Jan Lindsay'''

'''Vice-chair (risk), Jo Gottsman'''

Additional office roles will become available at COV8. 

 * [[https://vhub.org/groups/iavceicommhazrisk/wiki/PrincipalTopicstobecoveredbythecommission Principal topics to be covered by the commission]]

 *  [[https://vhub.org/groups/iavceicommhazrisk/wiki/MainPage/PreviosRelatedActivities Previous Related Activities]]

 * [[https://vhub.org/groups/iavceicommhazrisk/wiki/MainPage/ActivitiesfornexttwoYears General Commission Activities for the Next Two Years]]

 * [[https://vhub.org/groups/iavceicommhazrisk/wiki/MainPage/Scheduleofspecificplannedactivitiesfor20132014 Schedule of Specific Activities Planned for 2014-2015]]

 * [[https://vhub.org/groups/iavceicommhazrisk/wiki/Becomeinvolved Become Involved]]