DRR Summer school | JUNE 9 - 11, 2025, Geneva
Creative risk communication: Carrying forward the legacy of pablo suarez
We’ve got to talk…
Join the 2025 DRR Summer School immediately following June’s Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction (GPDRR).
Come learn how to creatively & effectively communicate risk! Book now - seats are limited!
Cartoon: Collection Pablo Suarez - used with permission
We have a well-developed body of knowledge on what causes disaster risk and what can be done to reduce it - so why does it often fail to lead to appropriate action? This June, join the DRR Summer School to explore this question - conceptually & creatively!
What’s the problem? The 2022 Global Assessment Report (GAR) highlighted that DRR practitioners must invest in more effective and creative ways to communicate risk to gain traction for action.
How can the problem be addressed? Pablo Suarez (1970-2024) championed “creative approaches to risk management” to better communicate - and motivate - people to take appropriate risk-informed action.
What you will learn at the Summer School: Analyze theoretical underpinnings of risk communication! Exchange practical experience! Build networks of risk communicators & practitioners! Inspire new ways to make risk communication more effective!
With seats limited, make sure to book soon.
Three days. many reasons to join.
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Experience.
Experience creative risk communication through games, humour, cartoons, and much more — an interactive and fun way to learn.
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Celebrate.
Carry forward and celebrate the legacy of Pablo Suarez, a pioneer in creative risk communication who inspired people around the world.
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Learn.
Share experiences and problem-solve current challenges in small teams. Learn from others to inform your future work.
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Grow.
The DRR Summer School provides an experience that helps you build your professional portfolio as a DRR practitioner or researcher.
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Network.
Meet the speakers and other DRR professionals in person. Make new friends and form networks that can last a lifetime.
Pablo Suarez, 1970 - 2024
The legacy of Pablo Suarez is the inspiration behind this year’s DRR Summer School. An excellent & inspiring communicator who visualised data and systems, invented games and fun exercises, collaborated with artists - and even acrobats - to communicate risk, Pablo led with the heart and sparked DRR action in vulnerable regions & communities around the world. Pablo's collaborator and partner in marriage and service to humanity, Janot Mendler de Suarez will co-facilitate the Summer School, helping to remember Pablo and carry forward his legacy.
See more about Pablo’s work here.
Communication: at the heArt of DRR
“There is more data about risk than ever before. However, using such data to shift how society understands, deliberates and acts on risk requires radically advancing communication about it, including how to transform data to information and then to knowledge that enables action. This demands novel collaborations that connect multiple perspectives, complement expertise, align strategic vision and foster creativity.” - 2022 Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction
The report highlights risk communication and human biases. Advancing DRR inevitably requires more strategic and creative risk communication, and the Summer School explores ways to translate words into action. This background paper summarises the issues for effective and creative risk communication.
We are fortunate to have Lisa Robinson, one of the authors, with us to present and facilitate. Prof. Iain Stewart will frame the issues at stake, building on his article on Advancing Disaster Risk Communications. Prof. Terry Cannon, who also presented at the 2023 Oxford DRR Summer School, will discuss culture in risk communication. Prof. Carina Fearnley will introduce the role of creativity in risk communication. Building on conceptual discussions, the Summer School is also about learning through experience — in afternoon sessions we will play games, test drawing skills and be creative with words and song. Drawing inspiration from the work of Pablo Suarez, his wife Janot Mendler de Suarez will facilitate some of the games and sessions to help us take his work forward.
It will be fun, for sure. FUNctional, with serious insights. As in Oxford two years ago, we look forward to your ideas and insights: after registration, you will receive a survey link to help shape the discussions.
We hope you can make it, and can’t wait to be learning with you this June!
Dr Bruno Haghebaert and Patrick Bolte
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The DRR Summer School is designed for: DRR/CCA practitioners from NGOs, CBOs, Red Cross/Red Crescent, national governments and international/UN agencies, as well as DRR/CCA Bachelor/Master students, postgraduates or Ph.D. students.
Note that you should have a good or basic understanding of key DRR concepts such as vulnerability, risk and resilience.
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Morning sessions will be based on topics presented by the risk communicators. See the programme for details.
Afternoon sessions will be more playful, as we will play ‘serious games’, get active in a ‘cartoonathon’, and explore communicating risk through song and spoken word.
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The summer school is facilitated by the risk communicators. Through lectures and seminars, combined with interactive training methods such as hands-on training tasks, group work and simulations, trainees will learn from the rich experience and extensive expertise of the facilitators.
There will be ample time for dialogue, Q&A sessions, anecdotes, and debate based on the specific interest of the trainees.
Such a combined approach has proven to be most valuable in terms of effective DRR learning and knowledge exchange.
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The regular fee for the DRR Summer School is USD 749. The price includes coffee/tea breaks on all three days. Note that accommodation is not included.
Upon full completion, all participants will receive a certificate.
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Yes. At just USD 649, the first 10 seats come with a saving of USD 100 off the regular price. But hurry — Early Bird tickets are only available until 31 March 2025, unless sold out prior.
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Onsite. The DRR Summer School aims to enable learning from the speakers and from each other. With a small group of no more than 45 participants and an excellent venue at the Varembé Conference Center (CCV), we’ll have a great learning environment.
“Effective disaster risk communication lies at the heart of meaningful disaster risk reduction.”
Impressions from the DRR Summer School 2023 in Oxford
To get a feel of what to expect, have a look at the website from the previous DRR Summer School that we organised together with Oxford Brookes University.
Check out the testimonials from participants, our photo wall, and watch Bruno Haghebaert go through the history of DRR.
As in 2023, the DRR Summer School will be based on a small group with no more than 45 participants — a great way to learn together and enhance creative risk communication.
