CDRI Fellowship Programme 2024-25

The CDRI Fellowship Programme aims to encourage research on problems faced in developing disaster resilient infrastructure. The research outcomes are expected to be practically implementable and should advance the knowledge on disaster resilient infrastructure. These solutions should focus on various aspects such as recovery and reconstruction, resilient infrastructure, life cycle of project development, policy formulation, financing of resilience in infrastructure, etc. Moreover, the CDRI Fellowship Programme is to promote mainstreaming and capacity building in disaster resilient infrastructure.

Themes for Fellowship 2024-25

CDRI Fellowship 2024-25 will be awarded to promising, actionable solutions that have demonstrated impact in a local context, with potential for scale, addressing the following themes:

• Use of GIRI data for informed decision-making towards the resilience of critical infrastructure systems, including telecommunications, power and transport
  • CDRI’s Global Infrastructure Resilience Index (GIRI) platform, the first ever fully probabilistic risk assessment covering global infrastructure sectors, enables users to freely access and use all risk metrics produced. GIRI is expected to inform planning, decision-making and investment in disaster and climate-resilient infrastructure by providing credible and fully comparable probabilistic risk metrics that cover every country and territory in the world. GIRI will measure resilience in major infrastructure sectors, helping estimate risks to major hazards considering a range of climate change scenarios. It will also consider the capacity of countries to manage and reduce the risks they face.
  • Proposals considered under this theme will specifically use data from GIRI to inform research projects focusing on the resilience of power, telecommunications, roads and railways, ports and airports, oil and gas, water and wastewater, health, education, and buildings (commercial & residential).
• Multi-hazard early warning systems and disaster risk information for resilient infrastructure and community wellbeing
  • Multi-hazard early warning systems (MHEWS) and disaster risk information play a vital role in fostering resilient infrastructure and ensuring the wellbeing of communities. These systems integrate advanced technology, data analytics, and local expertise to anticipate and mitigate threats including natural hazards and extreme climate events. By providing timely alerts and actionable information, MHEWS empower governments, communities, and organizations to prepare and respond effectively and thus, reduce the impact of the disasters.
• Building resilience of critical infrastructure sectors to extreme heat events
  • Human-induced climate change and the consequent, irreversible warming of the planet are exacerbating extreme heat conditions across the world. Building resilience in critical infrastructure sectors to extreme heat events is imperative for the health and wellbeing of communities and sustained economic growth. This will require investments in infrastructure upgrades, improved heat-related risk assessments, and enhanced emergency response plans. Innovative cooling technologies, efficient energy management, and urban planning solutions.
• Ensuring climate and disaster resilience of physical infrastructure in high mountain regions
  • High mountain communities and ecosystems are areas of high hazard risks like glacier melt, glacial lake outburst flooding (GLOF) and avalanches. Ensuring resilience of critical infrastructure in these regions entails a comprehensive approach including precise risk assessment accounting for changing climatic patterns, specialized engineering for infrastructure durability, and advanced monitoring systems for early warnings. Sustainable land-use planning and community participation are equally vital for an effective, coordinated response to disasters in these vulnerable regions.
• Quantification of vulnerability and physical losses of infrastructure sectors due to secondary hazards
  • Secondary hazards such as landslides, fires and tsunamis, which often follow primary events like earthquakes and floods, can exacerbate damage and disrupt essential services. These hazards are not sufficiently covered by prearranged financing. To quantify vulnerability, a detailed analysis of the infrastructure’s susceptibility to secondary hazards is necessary, considering factors like structural integrity, location, and resilience measures in place. This information informs risk models and loss estimations, enabling better preparedness and resource allocation.
• Resilient food infrastructure systems
  • In an increasingly uncertain future marked by extreme climate events, food and nutrition security will require concerted investments in resilient agricultural infrastructure systems, focusing on climate risks across the value chain – pre-production, production, processing, storage and distribution. The ability to swiftly restore and maintain food production, distribution, and access in the wake of disasters and extreme climate events will be critical for the well-being of affected communities at a local level as well as for development trajectories at the national and regional levels.

Funding Information

• In a year, CDRI offers up to 20 Fellowships and provides a one- time grant of up to US$15,000 per Fellowship.
• In addition to the Fellowship amount of up to US$15,000, CDRI Fellows will become part of CDRI’s global network. They may be invited to present their research at the annual International Conference on Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (ICDRI) hosted by CDRI. Fellows may also be sponsored to present their research outcomes at other prestigious international conferences or seminars.

Eligibility Criteria

• CDRI Fellowship is open to all nationals/citizens/passport-holders/permanent residents of CDRI Member Countries. The candidates can be students, scholars, faculty, or researchers from academic institutes; practitioners from government agencies, service agencies, non-governmental organizations, private organizations, and community workers. A candidate can be part of up to two Research Projects under the CDRI Fellowship Programme at any given time. Educational qualification or professional experience is no bar. However, after one’s selection, the applicants will have to submit a ‘letter of endorsement’ from a recognized academic or research institute/government organization.

For more information, visit CDRI.