Pandemic Risk, Response, and Resilience: COVID-19 Responses in Cities Around the World

Dr. Indrajit Pal, an associate professor in the Disaster Preparedness, Mitigation, and Management program at the Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand, brings over 21 years of expertise in disaster risk governance, hazard assessment, CBDRM, public health risk, and disaster resilience. With a distinguished background, he previously contributed to the Centre for Disaster Management at Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, India. Dr. Pal holds a pivotal role as a Board member of the Global Alliance of Disaster Research Institutes (GADRI), Japan, and serves as a Visiting Professor at Keio University. His advisory contributions extend to Disaster Risk Reduction for the Regional Integrated Multi-Hazard Early Warning System for Africa and Asia (RIMES). Dr. Pal is a prolific author and editor, with a portfolio of 15 books and over 180 peer-reviewed papers and chapters. Leading impactful projects in the Asia-Pacific region, his research focuses on risk characterization in Asian Delta communities and climate resilience in Lao PDR.

Dr. Rajib Shaw is a professor at Keio University's Graduate School of Media and Governance. He is also the Chairperson of SEEDS Asia and CWS Japan, two Japanese NGOs, and a Senior Fellow of the Institute of Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) Japan. He was previously the Executive Director of the Integrated Research on Disaster Risk (IRDR) and a Kyoto University Professor. Disaster governance, community-based disaster risk management, climate change adaptation, urban risk management, and disaster and environmental education are all areas of interest for him. Professor Shaw is the Chair of the UN Science Technology Advisory Group for Disaster Risk Reduction (STAG) and the Co-Chair of the Asia Science Technology Academic Advisory Group (ASTAAG). He's also the CLA (Coordinating Lead Author) for the IPCC's 6th Assessment Report's Asia chapter. He is the editor-in-chief of the journal "Progress in Disaster Science" published by Elsevier, as well as the series editor of a Springer book series on disaster risk reduction. Prof. Shaw has over 45 books to his credit, as well as over 300 scholarly papers and book chapters.