A successful year for the REACT Network!

On Monday 26th October, the REACT Network partners will gather in Beijing for the final activities of our year-long project. The key event (poster below) will be a resilience seminar featuring Dr Jamie Mackee from the University of Newcastle and Dr Wen-Yen Lin from Ming Chuan, followed by a discussion forum with a panel comprising Dr Gary Wei (SwissRe), Dr Jason von Meding (UON), Prof Qian Ye (BNU) and Dr Jie-Ying Wu (MCU).

The REACT Network would like to thank the Australia-China Council and our respective institutions for the financial support that has allowed us to build lasting personal relationships and embark on significant collaborative initiatives. Please check back here for a report on the Beijing visit in a couple of weeks!

December Group Updates

2015 International Conference on Building Resilience

Thank you to all who have submitted abstracts for the 2015 International Building Resilience Conference from 15-17 July 2015. We look forward to welcoming a diverse group of international delegates to Newcastle and we are pleased to announce that our keynote speakers will be Professor Kevin Hall (Deputy Vice Chancellor, University of Newcastle), Professor Makarand Hastak (Head of Construction Engineering and Management, Purdue University) and Dr Louise Brooke-Smith (Global President, RICS). The abstract deadline has now been extended until 5th January so there is still time to get involved! Click here to find out more.

REACT Network

Delegates from the University of Newcastle and Beijing Normal University are currently in Taipei for the second REACT Network event. There is a full schedule planned, including research collaboration meetings, studio-based consultations with students, formal seminars and community resilience field visits. Ming Chuan University will kindly host the visit.

5th World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction, Sendai

Dr von Meding and Dr Gajendran will be attending the 5th World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (WCDRR) in March as official delegates of the CIB (International Council for Building). CIB W120 Disasters and the Built Environment, the University of Newcastle and Loughborough University will host and facilitate a special public 'Built Environment DRR Research Forum'. The Forum will showcase research from around the globe that has supported the goals of the Hyogo Framework for Action over the past decade, informing the post-2015 framework with empirical and theoretical advances. A panel of international speakers will share a wealth of evidence spanning hundreds of research projects over the past decade.


Successful CAESIE Grant

A team from the group, led by Dr Gajendran, were recently successful with a proposal to fund collaborative meetings with a UK SME (Ostick & Williams Architects, Belfast). The meetings, hosted in Newcastle, will explore whether the development of a technological tool and operational framework for evaluating built environment resilience to flood events is possible within a digital environment. The staff from O&W will visit Australia in March 2015. 

REACT Network Inaugural visit, Beijing, October 2014

As announced in July, 2014, the D&D group were awarded an Australia-China Council 2014-2015 Grant. The grant is administered by Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the purpose of the grant is to establish Resilience Education Australia-China-Taipei (REACT) Network. The lead collaborators are 1) Dr Jason von Meding, School of Architecture and Built Environment, University of Newcastle, 2) Prof Qian Ye, School of System Science, Beijing Normal University and 3) Dr Wan-yu Shih, Department of Urban Planning and Disaster Management, Ming Chuan University.

The inaugural REACT Network activity was a visit to The School of Systems Science, Beijing Normal University (China) 12-17 October 2014. The research team from The University of Newcastle included Assoc Prof Graham Brewer and Dr Sittimont Kanjanabootra with Dr Wan-yu Shih and Dr Wen-Yen Lin from Ming Chuan University. The delegations were hosted by Prof Zhangang Han from BNU.

This first REACT event was primarily about establishing the relationship between members from the different universities, as well as identifying common ground where team members research interests are aligned. We hope to develop research collaboration expertise to seek future funding at national and international level, as well as producing interdisciplinary research publications and resilience education initiatives. The primary research areas include, disaster, hazards, resilience, urban planning, built environment, community engagement, IT and Complex Systems, Biology and Ecology Complex Systems.

A series of meetings were held between the delegations, including virtual attendance and participation by Prof Qian Ye (in USA) and Dr von Meding (in Australia). During this visit Prof Han kindly provided a research seminar venue for REACT Network members to present their research activities for project participants, as well as for students and researchers at Beijing Normal University. The seminar included:

1. Prof Zhangang Han: Introduction of School of Systems Science and research highlight

2. Prof Qian Ye: Integrated Risk Governance Project- History, Achievement and Future Plan

3. Associate Prof Graham Brewer: Societal risk reduction, resilient adaptation and the acceptance of the evidence: reflections on the Australian policy response to climate change.

4. Dr Sittimont Kanjanabootra: The built environment, disasters and information systems.

5. Dr Wan-yu Shih: Urban planning for climate change adaptation- on-going student and research projects in Ming Chuan University

6. Dr Wen-Yen Lin: Overview of the Department of Urban Planning and Disaster Management, Ming Chuan University


The following is a summary of the REACT Network inaugural visit outcomes:

· REACT Network virtual (online) collaborative working space has been established
· REACT Network Researcher Directory has been established
· REACT Network member’s personal research areas list has been established
· REACT Network education programs mapping has been established
· Activities for next visit at Department of Urban Planning and Disaster Management, Ming Chuan University is now being developed

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Professor Qian Ye, Professor Zhangang Han and the research team at the School of System Science, Beijing Normal University for your great hospitality, administrative work and generous support for this inaugural visit.