Latin American Social Science Faculty, IRDR

Mr. Allan Lavell is a respected researcher and practitioner in disaster risk reduction spans nearly three decades, and is marked by multidisciplinary, multi-actor, holistic, participatory and comparative approaches. He also emphasizes the importance of north-south and south-south collaboration, primarily in Central America and the Andes, but also throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as parts of parts of Africa and Asia.

Through academic research and the development of theoretical, as well as practical concepts, he has dedicated himself to clarifying and disseminating knowledge on the processes that lead to disaster risk. Mr. Lavell was a founding member of the Network of Social Studies in the Prevention of Disasters in Latin America (LA RED) in 1992, and combined with his long-term relationship with the Latin American Social Science Faculty (FLACSO), that has enabled him to achieve a position of influence within the region and beyond. He says that he believes that his contribution to shaping the future has been achieved primarily through the development and dissemination of notions, ideas, concepts and empirical evidence gained from and through academic research and published in dozens of books, journals and web sites.