Disaster preparedness project gets creative following UKRI funding

A new interdisciplinary research project investigating how to prepare for volcanic eruptions has received funding from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).

The ESCAPE project - Engaging Science and the Creative Arts to Prepare for Eruptions - will employ the creative arts to help scientists who are monitoring the behaviour of Campi Flegrei, an active volcano in a suburban area near Naples, Italy, which last erupted in 1538. 

The team will use participatory theatre, which is a community-based approach that can generate data, explore lived experiences, and transform power relationships.

Led by Professor Christopher Kilburn (UCL Earth Sciences) and receiving over £575,000 in funding, the core team includes experts from the University of Portsmouth, the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and the University of Cambridge.

Dr Carmen Solana, Associate Professor in Volcanology and Risk Communication and leader of the MSc in Crisis and Disaster Management at the University of Portsmouth’s School of the Environment and Life Sciences, said: “Managing unrest in volcanoes with long repose intervals is especially complex because volcanologists have developed their own view of what lies beneath them and opinions often differ. Resolving these differences is key for the effective management of a crisis, and in few places this is as relevant as in the Vesuvius-Campi Flegrei region.

“We are very excited about this innovative transdisciplinary collaboration, as we believe participatory theatre has great potential to encourage objective dialogue, discussion of ideas and potentially reaching consensus. Actors will present scientists with their own data and interpretations, allowing them to interactively change narratives and assumptions and indirectly.”

The innovation goes beyond the techniques used. The interactions of volcanologists and decision makers and volcanologists and the public have been previously explored, but there is little research on relations between scientists during crises.

Dr Solana added: “Our specific contribution entails identifying measures for improving communication between scientists and translating the results into practical and actionable good practice advice for improving the management of volcanic emergencies.”

The funding forms part of the first round of UKRI’s new cross research council responsive mode pilot scheme, designed to stimulate exciting new interdisciplinary research, which has pledged £32.4m for 36 projects.