This document provides an overview of the "Disaster Resilience and Sustainable Development Education Network in Asia" project taking place from 2018-2019. The project is led by the Asian Institute of Technology and involves several partner universities from Japan and Malaysia. The objectives are to develop a curriculum mapping tool to evaluate disaster resilience and sustainable development courses across universities, establish a working group on the topic, and promote long-term collaboration among higher education institutions in the region. Expected outcomes include the development of indicators, formation of the working group, workshops, and continued collaboration beyond the one year project period.

1. Project Title: Disaster Resilience and Sustainable Development
Education Network in Asia
Project Period: 2018 – 2019
Project Team:
Asian Institute of Technology (Project Lead)
Dr. INDRAJIT PAL (Disaster Preparedness, Mitigation and Management)
Dr. SANGAM SHRESTHA (Water Engineering and Management)
Miyagi University of Education, JAPAN (Project Partner)
Dr. TOMONORI ICHINOSE (Research Institution for Capacity Development of
Education)
Dr. TAKASHI ODA (Center for Disaster Education & Future Design)
Keio University, JAPAN (Project Partner)
Prof. RAJIB SHAW (Graduate School of Media and Governance)
Universiti Sains Malaysia, MALAYSIA (Project Partner)
Prof. MUNIRAH GHAZALI (Regional Centre of Expertise)
Dr. MOHAMMAD ZOHIR AHMAD SHAARI (Regional Centre of Expertise)
Dr. NOORAIDA YAKOB (Regional Centre of Expertise)
Project Overview
The “sharing of resources and knowledge” and “mutual learning” approaches are
important ingredients of success. The experience from actual disasters reflected in the
Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) education process should not be limited to teaching
evacuation drills, which does not involve a comprehensive understanding of hazards,
preparation for disaster situations, and reconstruction of communities as a sustainable
process.
The ProSPER.net joint project Disaster Resilience and Sustainable Development
Education Network in Asia will analyze the recent and updated curricula from targeted
institutions within the ProSPER.net member universities. The project will establish a
Working group on Higher Education Institutions on Disaster Resilience and Sustainable
Development (HEI-DRSD) and develop Multidisciplinary Curriculum Mapping Tool
(MCMT) to evaluate the curriculum in the context of SFDRR and SDGs. The MCMT will
be based on the indicators related to SFDRR and SGDs in the Asia-Pacific regional
perspective. The curriculum mapping tools will provide us the opportunity to develop

2. comprehensive overview of higher education materials on disaster resilience and
sustainable development in the region.
The working group in long run will also address the integration of the Natural Science
and Social Science approach towards DRR and Sustainable development through its
multidisciplinary approach.
At least 20 universities under the ProSPER.NET network (Member universities) will be
investigated with MCMT for curricula mapping primarily focused on SFDRR relevance
along with the sustainable development concern for the region, which will promote
disaster resilience and sustainable development in Asia Pacific region.
Objectives
● Develop Multidisciplinary Curriculum Mapping Tool (MCMT) focusing SFDRR
and SDGs.
● Evaluate the disaster resilience and sustainable development related curriculum
of ProSPER.NET member universities using MCMT.
● Develop Working group on Higher Education Institutions on Disaster Resilience
and Sustainable Development to promote disaster risk management, resilience
and sustainable development in Asia Pacific region.
Expected Outcomes
The project will cater to the student and faculty groups closely linked with the disaster
risk management and sustainable development related teaching, research and practices.
With the specific objectives and time bound activities the project will achieve the following
quantitative milestones:
1. Development of indicators and Multidisciplinary Curriculum Mapping Tool
(MCMT) in the context of SFDRR.
2. Formation of working group of Higher Education Institute on Disaster Resilience
and Sustainable Development (HEI-DRSD).
3. Organising Webinar at AIT, Thailand.
4. Organising an International Symposium at AIT, Thailand
(Tentative Duration January, 2019)
5. Journal Article and Policy Brief.

3. Sustainability and Self-sufficiency
The proposed project will allow students from higher education and partner HEIs to
develop long-term multidisciplinary collaborations from a position that recognizes and
celebrates the diversity in this area of knowledge in the field of Disaster Risk management
and sustainable development. In addition to the strong linkages that will be built in
resilience education, the cultural exchange occurring over the course of the project will
enable long-term opportunities to involve multidisciplinary department and experts from
various educational institutions cross the region. This one-year project will enable an
environment among the participating institutions to continue this higher education
institution network towards Disaster Resilience and sustainable development in the
region through joint student guidance, article publications and multi-country
collaborative research project.
Contact
Dr. Indrajit Pal (Project PI)
Assistant Professor and Chair
Disaster Preparedness, Mitigation and Management (DPMM)
Asian Institute of Technology, P.O. Box 4, Klong Luang,
Pathumthani 12120, Thailand
Phone: +66-2-5246428, Mobile: +66-824864052 (Thailand)
Email: indrajit-pal@ait.ac.th || indrajit.pal@gmail.com || Skype: indrajit_pal
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