UK Shelter Forum Pecha Kucha 2014

"Ready? Ok, GO!"

And off I went, trying not to stumble over my words for the next 6 minutes and 40 seconds while I spoke about my work in Haiti over the last 4 years. The crowd was a warm but intimidating mix of PHD candidates, masters students and shelter professionals. It was over before I knew it, it seemed to go well enough, people understood what I said and maybe even agreed with some of it. I managed to navigate the 20 slides without too many hiccups - aside from being handed a very squeaky microphone early on - and I even got a couple of laughs! It was about time for a beer.

 

A few moments earlier the organiser of the UK Shelter Forum Pecha Kucha had plucked my name at random from a hat. I was the first of 10 speakers presenting a wide range of research and findings. Subjects ranged from archaeology in the Antilles to retrofitting in Peru and the Philippines.

The shelter forum is an annual event which brings together various researchers, educational institutions, NGOs, professionals and government bodies who are involved shelter and settlement reconstruction after disasters. The Pecha Kucha, which is held the evening before the main event, is where researchers, recent graduates and people working in the field are selected to present. The list of presenters and their subjects were as follows:

 

- Avery Doninger, Oxford Brookes University - ‘Transition to What?’Evaluating the transitional shelter process in Leogane, Haiti

- Pedro Clarke, Oxford Brookes University - Learning from Disasters: Lisbon 1755

- Aditya Aachi, Architectural Association - Haiti - Simbi Hubs, IDP camps and Bamboo

- Vicente Sandoval, UCL - Questioning disaster risk and reconstruction: A multi-scalar inquiry

- Martin Dolan, Oxford Brookes University - How was the 'social urbanism' of Medellin made possible?

- Ryan Sommerville, University of Westminster - Preparing for post-disaster recovery: Open Data, Community and Built Environment Professionals

- Julia Hansen, UCL - Capabilities in post-disaster housing

- Josh Macabuag, UCL - Seismic Retrofitting in Rural Communities

- Kate Crawford, UCL and Alice Samson, Cambridge University - Dialogue between archaeology and humanitarian shelter: resilience in pre-Columbian house-building and repair

- Elizabeth Wagemann, Cambridge University - Implementing academic research: a pathway for impact

- Ana Gatoo, Cambridge University - The Philippines Sheltering Response: three months after typhoon Haiyan

 

Joseph Ashmore, who was the informal host for the night rounded up by saying that he was very impressed with both the content and visual standard of presentations and I have to say I agree. It was particularly good to see that presenters hadn't shied away from showing what they had found when probing deeper into certain situations. Martin Dolan's presentation showed some of the darker aspects of positive interventions which were a result of the regeneration of Medellin, Colombia - though all we see in the media are the success stories and glossy images.

 

Though these events are primarily a platform for students to discuss their research in public, they can be an important tool to hold a mirror up to the sector and open up the discussion on how to improve in the future.  After all these interventions can be a direct challenge to the sovereignty of the states in which they are implemented and hence there is a responsibility to make sure they are the best they can be.

 

The event overall was both mentally stimulating and enjoyable. I look forward to it becoming an annual booking in my diary. A big thanks to Victoria Maynard and Bernadette Devilat who organised the event.  Videos and posters from the evening will be posted here once they become available.