A national conference titled ‘COVID-19: Impact, Mitigation, Opportunities and Building Resilience’ was held on the 27th and 28th of January 2021. The conference was organized by the National Science Foundation, Sri Lanka.
The era of hazard-by-hazard risk reduction is over. In our increasingly complex interconnected world, risk has become systemic, challenging single-hazard approaches, and governance mechanisms of established disaster risk management institutions. We need to reflect on the systemic nature of risk in how we deal with it. Systemic understanding of risk goes far beyond previous notions and concerns.
It was encouraging to see the National Science Foundation (NSF) has taken a timely move of organising a research conference on COVID-19. It was all about the impact, mitigation, opportunities and building resilience with a fitting theme ‘from adversity to serendipity’. The Postgraduate Institute of Management was so glad to be a strategic partner for this noteworthy endeavour and I was part of the steering committee of the conference, that was ably led by NSF Chairman Prof. Ranjith Senarathne.
