• Reconstruction of Heritage in Bhaktapur, Nepal: Examining Tensions and Negotiations Between the ‘Local’ and the ‘Global’, Vanicka Arora
• Towards Meaningful Participation: Co-researching with Persons with Disabilities in Central Sulawesi, Husna Yuni Wulansari
• Reviewing the place of Migrants in Disasters: A personal perspective, Anna MS Torres
• Importance of creating a pathway for Voices to merge with Scientific Knowledge in Ecosystem-based Disaster Risk Reduction, Damithri Chathumani, Loïc Le Dé, Michael G. Petterson, Deepthi D. Wickramasinghe
• The C-word: potential contributions of Critical GIS to disaster studies, Valentina Carraro

Panel description

Emerging voices and pathways to inclusive disaster studies

The field of disaster studies faces a number of major challenges linked to power, prestige and values. Research impact and success are often measured on the basis of the perspectives and priorities of leading institutions in high income countries. Yet, research informed by local realities and local knowledge potentially has a larger impact on both practice and scholarship. It is often difficult for individual researchers to make space for local perspectives, due to their need to publish and attract funding. Therefore, research is rarely led by those who are actually vulnerable to disasters. These issues raise questions about the future of theoretical and empirical work in the field of disaster studies. For these reasons, the Disaster Studies Manifesto calls for a radical rethinking of research agendas, methods and the allocation of resources in the field. Master students, doctoral students and post-doctoral researchers are faced with these issues, like all scholars studying disasters. However, compared to established disaster scholars, early career researchers (ECR) are uniquely positioned to challenge established practices and foster innovation in their research field. In line with the conference theme Imagining Futures, this panel provides a platform for ECR to explore new pathways towards inclusive disaster studies. Participants are asked to reflect on a range of paradigmatic topics, such as those listed below.

• Empirical contributions that explore the field’s challenges and/or exemplify novel research approaches in disaster studies, e.g. ‘How can established field practices be transformed?’
• Methodological contributions with methodological reflections, discussions of concepts and/or practical engagements that explore new and emerging ways of conducting research, e.g. ‘Which practical barriers and methodological limitations stand in the way of inclusive disaster studies?’
• Theoretical contributions that explore the field’s settled epistemological and/or ontological positions and new pathways forward, e.g. ‘What concepts and frameworks delineate new pathways for the field?’
• Literature reviews that critically reflect on key texts (or concepts) from disaster studies and/or other relevant fields, e.g. ‘What literature and conceptual thinking from other fields could help identify new pathways in disaster studies?’
• Personal reflections, discussing academic/activist/personal trajectories that have led early career researchers into disaster studies and what this means for the field and society, e.g. ‘How can ECRs’ experiences be leveraged to stimulate innovative research in disaster studies?’

The aim of this panel is to provide a platform for a new generation of voices to explore emerging pathways towards inclusive disaster studies. It is linked to a special issue in the journal Disaster Prevention and Management www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/journal/dpm/emerging-voices-and-pathways-inclusive-disaster-studies