ADA Teams with Nikon on Photo Exhibition
The Averted Disaster Award (ADA) announced it’s teaming up with Nikon and the WaterBear Network to develop a photo exhibition reflecting the work of the 2022 ADA runner-up submission. Nikon Ambassador, Hermeilio Miguel Aquino (Kino), a London based photographer, director, and multidisciplinary artist is shooting the project. The exhibition will debut at the Understanding Risk 22 global conference in Florianópolis, Brazil in November. The 2022 ADA winning and runner-up submissions will be officially announced at that time.
Raised in the South Bronx of New York, Kino began his career as an actor. He went on to study film directing at Columbia College in Chicago, and pursued further studies at the Saint Petersburg Theatre Academy in Russia and the Saint Martins School of Art and Design in London. Kino came to photography at age 30, and has since worked with a number of fashion brands including Pantene, Kite Eyewear, and O2. In addition to his fashion and portraiture work, Kino has developed several projects on environmental and social issues, including content for the refugee organization FODI and the SKY ZERO footprint fund.
Following the showing at UR22, the exhibition is expected to travel to other locations around the world.
ADA Partners with WaterBear Network on Film
The Averted Disaster Award (ADA) announced a partnership with WaterBear, a free streaming platform dedicated to the future of our planet, to produce a documentary film short about the 2022 ADA award winner. The film will be funded in part by pioneering storytelling Resilient Foundation, which gives local filmmakers, storytellers and communities around the world the opportunity to tell important stories. It will premiere later this year at UR22 in Florianópolis, Brazil, where the ADA competition’s inaugural winner is to be officially announced.
Michael Cain, Executive Director of Resilient Foundation said, “We are pleased to join the Averted Disaster Award to help make the invisible, visible by highlighting successful Disaster Risk Management interventions. This work, which typically goes unnoticed by the public and policy makers precisely because of its success, is critical to building a sustainable world in this era of extreme climatic events.”
Directed by award winning filmmaker Doel Trivedy, the ADA documentary will be distributed on WaterBear’s free streaming platform. Founded by Ellen Windemuth, executive producer of BAFTA and Oscar winning documentary My Octopus Teacher, WaterBear is available across 194 countries and features award-winning documentaries as well as original content – spanning biodiversity, community, and climate action.
ADA Identifies Selection Committee
The Averted Disaster Award (ADA) announced earlier this year the individuals who will serve as members of the 2022 ADA Selection Committee, responsible for reviewing the applications and deciding on the winning submissions.
The Committee is made up of thought leaders and practitioners in the field of Disaster Risk Management. Each of the Committee members have a demonstrated commitment to to the goal of highlighting successful interventions as a way of encouraging others to invest in keeping communities safe. The four honourable members of the Selection Committee are:
David Lallemant
Head of Disaster Analytics for Society Lab (DASL) at Nanyang Technological University and the Earth Observatory of Singapore
David’s work is the basis for the Averted Disaster Award. “Shedding light on avoided disasters: measuring the invisible benefits of disaster risk management using probabilistic counterfactual analysis” will be featured as a contributing paper in the upcoming UNDRR Global Assessment Report 2022. His research focuses on probabilistic risk and resilience analysis of cities, communicating uncertainties in disaster risk, and the uses and limitations of machine learning in disaster risk analysis. David holds a PhD from Stanford University (2015), a MSc from UC Berkeley (2010) and a BSc from MIT (2007). He is a recipient of the National Research Foundation Fellowship, and the Collaborative Data Innovation for Sustainable Development Fund. He is the co-founder of the Stanford Urban Resilience Initiative at Stanford University, and the Co-Risk Labs cooperative.
Shanna N. McClain
NASA, Disasters Program Manager
Dr. Shanna N. McClain is the Disasters Program Manager for NASA’s Earth Sciences/Applied Sciences Program. In this role, she leads a dynamic team across NASA centers on issues relating to enhancing and integrating Earth science capabilities for supporting disaster response, reducing disaster risk, and building resilience. She helps define NASA’s role in resilience through the development of EO-focused approaches in fragile and crisis-affected areas, and identifying strategic and non-traditional partnerships that can improve linkages between science and policy. Shanna also serves as Manager of the Earth Sciences Division’s Global Partnerships and Program Coordinator to the NASA Applied Sciences Valuables Consortium. Here, her work involves creating thriving private-sector engagements that bring NASA capabilities to global communities and amplifying the societal and economic benefits of Earth science information.
Professor Koh Chan Ghee
Director, Lloyds Registry Foundation
Professor Koh Chan Ghee is an established civil engineering professor with research and education experience in his domain of expertise in structural dynamics. He obtained his Ph.D. in earthquake engineering at the University of California, Berkeley in 1986. He is currently the Director of the Lloyd’s Register Foundation Institute for the Public Understanding of Risk and the Director of Centre for Hazards Research at NUS. He has published more than 250 international journal papers and conference papers. He was a recipient of the prestigious Marie Curie Fellowship awarded by the Commission of the European Communities, as well as the IES Best Paper Award. A registered professional engineer (civil), he has been engaged as an advisor/consultant in more than 120 projects including many major infrastructure developments in the region.
Stéphane Hallegatte
Senior Climate Change Adviser at World Bank
Stéphane Hallegatte is a Senior Climate Change Adviser at the World Bank. He joined the World Bank in 2012 after 10 years of academic research in environmental economics and climate science for Météo-France, the Centre International de Recherche sur l’Environnement et le Développement, and Stanford University. His research interests include the economics of natural disasters and risk management, climate change adaptation, urban policy and economics, climate change mitigation, and green growth.
Selection Committee members apply their expertise without bias to review applications and collaborate to determine the shortlist of finalists and winner of the ADA prize.