Special Sessions
Mark Pelling
University College London
Mark Pelling is a Visiting Professor in the Department of Geography, and a Professor in Risk and Disaster Reduction at UCL. Previously, he was a Professor of Geography at King's. Before this, he was based at the departments of Geography at University of Liverpool and University of Guyana. He has served as a coordinating lead author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Sixth Assessment Report and Special Report on Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation (SREX) and as lead author on its Fifth Assessment Report. He is a member of the Scientific Steering Committee of the Stockholm Environment Institute and the Development Team for the Future Earth Risk Knowledge Action Network. He chairs the Centre for Integrated Research on Risk and Resilience, and is currently seconded for half his time to the United Kingdom Research and Innovation (UKRI) Global Challenges Research Fund as a Resilience Challenge Lead.
Cornelis van Westen
Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation
Pr. Cees van Westen is Full professor Multi-Hazard Risk Dynamics at the Earth System Analysis Department of the faculty of Geo-information Science and Earth Observation (ITC), Twente University, Netherlands. He is working in the Department of Earth Systems Analysis, and contributes to the research theme 4D-Earth, specifically to Natural Hazards and Disaster Risk Management. He was involved in projects related to the development of open-source GIS software and developed many training materials on the use of GIS for hazard and risk assessment. From 2005- 2015 he was Director of the United Nations University - ITC Centre on Geoinformation for Disaster Risk Management. He has carried out research on different hazard and risk related aspects: landslide hazard and risk (e.g. Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Romania, India, China, Vietnam, Colombia, Central America, Caribbean), volcanic hazard and risk assessment (Colombia, Philippines, Central America, South America) and technological risk assessment (India). He worked on national scale risk assessment projects in Central America, the Caribbean, Caucasus, and Central Asia. His current research interest is to develop methods for the analysis of changing multi-hazard risk.
Hakim Benmoussa
Scottsdale, Arizona, États-Unis
Pr.Gabriel Hakim BENMOUSSA is the Director General of Fire and Emergency Medical Services in Georgia, United States. He serves on the Harvard Medical Faculty Physicians Division of Disaster Medicine in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Eastern Washington University. He has over 24 years of experience in fire service management, EMS, special operations, CBRNE (Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and Explosive) response, disaster preparedness, and disaster management. He has served as Deputy Chief of Emergency Services in Salem, Oregon, and is a member of Oregon’s State Regional Hospital Preparedness Group, Public Health, and Incident Management Teams.
Noamen Rebai
Ecole Nationale d'Ingénieurs
de Tunis (ENIT), Civil
Engineering Department,
noamen.rebai@enit.utm.tn
Pr.Noamen REBAI is a distinguished professional in geodesy and geographic information systems (GIS). His expertise lies in Geographic Information System conception and implementation, digital topography, GPS surveys, and digital cartography. Rebai has led projects such as the water point data digitization for the DGRE project and topographic studies covering vast areas. He has contributed significantly to research, particularly in geodynamic studies using GPS and terrain modelling techniques. Rebai’s professional experience spans various roles, including GIS project management, training in computer science at the University of Villetaneuse, and geodetic work at the National Geodesy and Leveling Service in Tunisia.