LOCUS: Indigenous Knowledge supporting community-ledparticipatory government for disaster preparedness and resilience. Global Challenge Research Project. 

I am the Principal Investigator of this GCRF transcultural design research project potential that develops actionable insights and collects good practice case studies of indigenous knowledge building trust and supporting effective communication between (local and national) government, Public Protection Disaster Relief (PPDR) agencies and communities. In the context of disaster preparedness, particularly within the interlinked earthquake, volcano and tsunami geo-conditions of nefast consequences (flash flooding, landslide, liquefaction) that make Indonesia and Philippines high risk countries.

LOCUS is also developing a training resource and policy recommendation for participatory governance in disaster preparedness. This is a timely strategic partnership with organizations that are currently informing local and national policy in their countries and are working with communities to run a rapid response pilot. This is a collaboration between Resilience Development Initiative Indonesia (RDI), University of the Philippines Resilience Institute (UPRI), The Centre for Innovation at University of Bristol (UoB), School of Management of Lancaster University (LU), and United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction's program U-Inspire.   

Disaster warning and action is commonly top-down communication that uses scientific language hindering community accessibility. Current covid restrictions on social gathering and mobility have opened a further knowledge gap on how to support communities remotely without relying on internet or digital apps, as these platforms may get compromised in disaster situations. We anticipate deliverables in creative formats (digital and physical) informed by site-specific indigenous cultural expressions and customs: community radio, school curricula interventions, songs, storytelling and crafts.