At ALLEA (The European Federation of Academies of Sciences and Humanities) our Professor of Archaeology Robin Coningham was a panelist for their recent General Assembly on Crises and the Importance of Research: "How Prepared Can We Be?"
Professor Coningham was joined by Hannah Cloke of Reading and Tom Shakespeare from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine on a panel chaired by TU Delft's Tina Comes, one of the key contributors to the European Commission’s ‘Strategic Crises Management in the EU’. The panel, titled "Session 1: Diversity and Inclusivity in Disaster Responses", examined crises across cultural, historical, and geographical contexts, analysing how public services help us respond to disasters, but may have unintended consequences.
As part of the panel, Professor Coningham stressed that crises and disasters, human or natural, often overwhelm planned responses and create situations in which technical interventions are hurriedly applied but later found to compromise existing management and protection agendas and alienate resident communities, and frequently threaten their heritage, traditional knowledge systems and values.
Although infrequently mobilised in such contexts, and sparsely funded, interdisciplinary research is uniquely placed to assist in providing a fuller understanding of the short and longer term impacts, and facilitate reflection on lessons of resilience. After Nepal’s 2015 earthquake, for example, the exploration of ancient seismic adaptation within historic urban infrastructure facilitated exchanges between research and practice teams and the integration of ‘scientific’ and traditional knowledge systems, allowing lessons from the past to inform the future and enhance societal and structural resilience.
The day long symposium was jointly organised by ALLEA (The European Federation of Academies of Sciences and Humanities), The British Academy, The Learned Society of Wales, the Royal Society and the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and explored how research contributes to responding to and preparing for multiple and entangled crises of our times. Other panels included Session 2: Pandemic Preparedness and Building Resilience, Session 3: Data for Emergencies and Session 4: In-Conversation: Perspectives from Ukraine.
Our Department of Archaeology is a leading centre for the study of archaeology and is ranked 10th in the world (QS World University Rankings by subject 2023). We are an inclusive, vibrant and international community. Our students develop knowledge and gain essential and transferable skills through research-led teaching and lab-based training.
Feeling inspired? Visit our Archaeology webpages to learn more about our postgraduate and undergraduate programmes.
