NEW MAJOR RESEARCH GRANTS FOR EPICentre

The GCRF Urban Disaster Risk Hub comprises research based in four cities around the world - Nairobi (Kenya), Quito (Ecuador), Istanbul (Turkey) and Kathmandu (Nepal) - chosen due to their exposure to various natural hazards and for variation in urban layout, development status and governance. It aims to build resilience against various natural hazards, such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, floods, cyclones, etc. The project, led by the University of Edinburgh, will involve several international universities and agencies to bring disaster risk management to the centre of global urban policy and practice, strengthening the voice and capacity of the urban poor. Bringing together leading researchers with inspiring community and government leaders, the Hub will work at an unprecedented scale to deliver real impact through interdisciplinary research. UCL-CEGE investigators will take a leading role in the Hub, with Prof Rossetto coordinating all the engineering aspects of the project and the other UCL team member leading various project tasks and activities, particularly for the Istanbul case study. More details at: https://nerc.ukri.org/press/releases/2019/03-hubs/

Dr Carmine Galasso and Prof Dina D'Ayala have  received €505,000 as part of a new €8 million Horizon 2020 project 'TURNkey - Towards more Earthquake-resilient Urban Societies through a Multi-sensor-based Information System enabling Earthquake Forecasting, Early Warning and Rapid Response actions'. The TURNkey consortium includes a strong multi-disciplinary team of experts (geophysicists, seismologists, geologists, engineers, disaster risk managers, social and computer scientists) from 21 partner institutions (both universities/research centres and private companies) in 10 European countries.  The UCL team will lead a WP and several tasks within the 3-year project.

Dr Carmine Galasso has received £149,979 for the project 'CHeRiSH: Cultural Heritage Resilience & Sustainability to multiple Hazards' funded by the British Council, Newton Fund Institutional Links Grants. The UCL team includes Prof Dina D'Ayala  and the partnership includes  the University of the Philippines, Visayas, Central Philippine University, and De La Salle University, Manila.

Dr Carmine Galasso and Dr Arash Nassirpour have received $30,000 for the project 'Safer and Resilient Communities through Safer and Resilient School Facilities' funded by the Motorola Solution Foundation, International Grant scheme.

Dr Roberto Gentile has received a €212,934, 2-year Marie Curie Individual Fellowship for the project 'MULTIRES: MULTI-level framework to enhance seismic RESilience of RC buildings', under the supervision of Dr Carmine Galasso.

PhD student David Wilkie has been awarded a very prestigious EPSRC Doctoral Prize Fellowship on 'Resilience-Based Design and Life-Extension of Offshore Wind Farms'. This fellowship will allow David to continue working in EPICentre as a postdoctoral Research Fellow for two more years after the submission of his PhD thesis (expected in Spring 2019). David's fellowship will build on his current PhD work under Dr Carmine Galasso's and Dr Philippe Duffour's supervision and will develop, together with a number of industrial partners, an advanced resilience-based design framework for offshore wind farms in the UK subjected to wind and wave hazards.

Dr Fabio Freddi has received £78,400 (£57,000 to UCL) for the project 'Improved Community Performance from Seismically Resilient Strategic Infrastructure Facilities' funded through the Scheme for Promotion of Academic and Research Collaboration (SPARC) by Ministry of Human Resources Development/Department of Higher Education, Government of India. The UCL team includes Dr Carmine Galasso as a co-investigator. The Indian investigators for the project are Dr. Meera Raghunandan (Indian PI) and Dr Jayadipta Ghosh, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay.

EPICentre has also been awarded two more grants within the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) UCL Small Research Grants scheme funded by Research England to support ODA-compliant small research projects addressing challenges faced by developing countries. Out of total of 63 applications, 14 projects were selected for funding, of which two came from EPICentre:

Dr Carmine Galasso (PI); Target Country: Indonesia; 'i-RESIST: Increasing REsilience of Schools in Indonesia to earthquake Shaking and Tsunami', £100,000 (co-I: Prof Tiziana Rossetto)

Prof Tiziana Rossetto (PI); Target Country: Sri Lanka; 'HEARTS-SL: Hospital Engineering Assessment for Resilience to Tsunami & Storm surge - SL', £100,000 (co-Is: Dr Carmine Galasso and Prof Ian Eames, UCL Mechanical Engineering)