Dr Aaron Opdyke has been awarded a New Colombo Plan (NCP) grant (AUD 247,500) from the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) to support a 3 year mobility program in the Philippines focused on disaster reduction education. The program will partner with Ateneo de Manila University’s Humanitarian Action program and support 75 Australian students who will work alongside Filipino students in collaboration with local civil society and government organisations on short term placements.
The program, Disaster Risk Reduction in the Philippines, will run through to 2023, extending the lab’s ongoing research and teaching partnerships in the country and giving undergraduate students first-hand experience of how communities and organisations work to reduce disaster risk.