John Twigg DRR Expert

John Twigg researcher, consultant, lecturer in disaster risk reduction, resilience and sustainable development

John has 30 years experience working on disaster risk reduction (DRR), resilience and sustainability in the NGO and academic sectors, as a consultant, researcher and lecturer.

Involved in projects and programmes on a wide variety of issues, including: vulnerability to hazards and disasters; community-based resilience and DRR; vulnerability and risk assessment methodologies; early warning systems; post-disaster shelter and recovery; urban resilience; urban fire risk; policy and institutional aspects of disaster management; programme and project design, implementation and evaluation; and organizational development and DRR mainstreaming.

Carrying-out research and consultancy work for a large number of international NGOs and bilateral and multilateral agencies, including the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, the World Bank, Oxfam, Save the Children, Tearfund, ActionAid, the Council of Europe, CAFOD, UK Department for International Development, Red Cross, InterAction, and the Global Alliance for DRR in the Education Sector.

John is a member of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee's Global Shelter Cluster Working Group on Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities in Shelter Programming, and a Committee member of the European Sociological Association's Disasters and Social Crisis Research Group. Previously, he was also a member of: the International Disability and Development Consortium Task Group on Conflict and Emergencies (2007-13); the International Scientific Advisory Group to the 3rd UN International Conference on Early Warning Systems (2006); the UK National Co-ordination Committee for the UN International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction (1996-9); and a founder member and UK representative of the South Asian disaster network Duryog Nivaran (1994-9).

With over 100 publications on DRR including manuals, technical reports and evaluations, academic papers, books and book chapters, John is the author of the widely used good practice guide 'Disaster Risk Reduction' (2004; updated 2015) and of 'Characteristics of a Disaster-Resilient Community' (2007/9): a resource for planning and monitoring DRR projects, which is used by operational agencies in a number of countries.

His research work crosses several disciplinary and professional boundaries including engineering, architecture, planning, geography, sociology and psychology.

John has designed and run post-graduate courses on resilience, vulnerability and DRR; and has supervised a number of PhD students. He is an Honorary Professor at University College London, where he has been associated for more than 20 years.

Contact John through the Network or direct at john.twigg@resilienceadvisors.eu

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