Nathan Bank's Experience at the UNDRR 2019 Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction

By: Nathan Banks

Nathan Banks was one of the recipients of the SIS Travel Grant for graduate students. He was able to use this grant to attend the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction (GP 2019) hosted by the UNISDR in Geneva Switzerland. At this conference, he assisted in the provision of accessible web conferencing technology and remote participation for the conference.

Read about his experience:

The UNDRR’s 2019 Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction occurred in Geneva Switzerland between May 15 and May 17. The conference also had two preparatory days, May 13 and May 14. I arrived in Geneva in the afternoon of Monday May 13. For those first couple days I was able to test our audio-visual equipment with my boss, Dr. Derrick Cogburn.

We ran into some issues with the planned method of streaming content for remote participants, and we had to trouble-shoot in order to ensure somewhat consistent participation opportunities for those wanting to participate remotely. The conference center itself also struggled with some serious band-with issues. The lack of a wired internet connection, created problems for the consistency of the streams we hoped to provide.

Overall, the remote participation through blackboard collaborate, provided by myself and Dr. Cogburn averaged about 7 participants per each side-event and working session throughout the conference. The remote participation we provided could have been better, with a little more preparation, and more connectivity assurance from the conference center, however, what we provided was significant. I believe our presence at the conference was truly valuable to several participants.

We also brought our telepresence robot that allows participants with full maneuverability around the conference center for remote participants. We created a system for interested participants to sign up for time slots throughout the duration of the conference. Although this sign-up was not taken advantage of as much as we had hoped, those who did sign up for slots, and participate through the robot, had thoroughly immersive experiences. The robot’s presence at the conference was ultimately quite a success.

In the down times between trouble-shooting out tech, and running virtual participation for individual sessions, I was able to meet other conference attendees interested in governance and disaster risk reduction. These contacts and connections will be incredibly valuable for my academic and professional career moving forward as I finish my graduate studies at American University and as I head out into my own professional career. My degree program is the master’s Program in Global Governance, Politics and Security. It was truly a wonderful opportunity for me to be able to experience global governance in action, and to tangibly engage in the processes I am currently studying.

There were several stations and booths set up for different interest groups to display mapping, data-collection tech, etc. These content booths were fascinating and quite the educational experience for myself and my boss. We are currently working on a paper which will include lessons learned from our participation in the conference, as well as feedback we have received from remote participants, and the broader points of interest highlighted throughout the conference sessions themselves.

Our institute, the Institute on Disability and Public Policy, is inextricably linked to inclusion in domestic and international policy. The opportunity to provide this type of inclusion at a global conference on disaster risk reduction, was the kind of opportunity we simply could not have ignored. The value added to our institution from our attendance at this conference will be visible in our research, papers produced, and our future means of involvement in future conferences focused on inclusion in global and domestic public policy.