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This conversation presents the reflections from five prominent disaster scholars and practitioners on the purpose of Radix – the Radical Disaster Interpretations network – as the authors celebrate its 20th anniversary.

This paper is based on the conversations that took place on Disasters: Deconstructed Podcast livestream on the 13th October 2021.

The conversation reflects on personal and professional journeys in disaster studies over the past 20 years and on what needs changing in order to make disaster interpretations more radical.

The conversation contributes to the ongoing discussions around explorations of radical pathways for understanding and preventing disasters.

Cultural heritage (CH) sites are not only important components of a country’s identity but can also be important drivers of tourism. However, an increasing number of extreme events associated with the impacts of climate change, natural hazards and human-induced threats are posing significant problems in conserving and managing CH worldwide. Consequently, improved climate change adaptation and enhanced hazard/threat mitigation strategies have become critical (but to-date under-researched) considerations. The purpose of this paper is to identify the key hazards and threats to CH sites, the most common types of risks to CH and the strategies being adopted to mitigate or even eradicate those risks.

This paper reviews 80 CH case studies from around the world, which have been presented at a UNESCO International Training Course between 2006 and 2016. The case studies cover 45 different countries and provide practical insights into the key challenges being encountered in a variety of “at risk” locations.

The analysis assesses the key natural hazards and human-induced threats to the sites, an overview of the typical impacts to the tangible components of heritage and identifies the types of strategies being adopted to mitigate the risks, some of which could be transferred across cultural and geographical contexts.

The paper provides a wealth of useful information related to how challenges faced by CH sites might be addressed in the future.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a model for developing climate adaptation strategies to reduce climate risk for cultural heritage. Cultural heritage has an important role in human well-being. This paper posits that cultural heritage requires an approach that recognises the uniqueness of cultural heritage. The paper draws from the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) Making My City Resilient campaign and the Heart of the City Partnership in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, and proposes a Cultural Heritage Adaptation Forum. The role of the forum is to develop adaptation strategies in a sustainable development context. This is an original attempt to link cultural heritage to climate risk.

The paper draws from two initiatives and uses good practice established from the disaster management and climate communities and proposes a Cultural Heritage Adaptation Forum that can be used to formulate adaptation interventions for cultural heritage. The approach builds on active participation in a global overview of cultural heritage and climate risk led by UNISDR together with personal experience of implementing such strategies in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.

The paper finds that a model can be developed that incorporates good practice from the climate and disaster management communities.

The paper presents a model that can be used by those stakeholders that have an interest in protecting cultural heritage form climate driven hazards.

Cultural heritage has a value for all and protecting it from climate driven hazards can impact human well-being

The paper brings together concepts from different academic and practitioner communities. The concept outlined in the paper will be of interest to all those interested in protecting cultural heritage for climate driven hazards.

The paper explores why local disaster scholars often fail to put the needs of local people at the centre of their research. Specifically, it explores two questions: (1) why local concerns are often not reflected in the research agenda? And (2) why we are falling behind in generating locally applicable disaster knowledge? The paper engages with the experiences of local disaster researchers to answer the research questions.

A qualitative approach was undertaken to conduct the study. In total, 15 in-depth interviews were conducted with practitioners and academics working in the domain of disaster studies in different regions of India. Criterion sampling was employed to recruit the participants. An interview guide with open ended questions was used to conduct the interviews. The data were thematically analysed utilizing qualitative data analysis software to arrive at the findings.

The participants identified three potential reasons behind the lack of locally relevant disaster research. First, the existing concepts and terminologies which guide disaster research are often inadequate to represent the local reality. Second, “foreign” funders and policymakers often influence the agenda and emphasis of the research which creates barriers in developing research agenda relevant to the local needs. The time-bound project format of research is often problematic. It resembles looking at the community through a peephole which hardly gives the whole picture. Third, resource constraints also create substantial hindrances in conducting locally relevant research.

The sample only included participants who believed that disaster research is often not relevant locally in India. Participants having different standpoints on the issue were not included which remains as a limitation of the study.

The research highlights the challenges that local researchers face while conducting locally relevant research and how they can be overcome. The author expects that the findings of the research will help in challenging and transforming established practices in disaster studies and bridging the gap between disaster research and vulnerable people.

This paper is valuable because it documents the perspectives of local researchers on the barriers that need to be overcome to produce locally relevant disaster research.