Duncan is Professor of Risk, Resilience and Society at The University of Manchester specialising in societal resilience. He has a Doctorate from Strathclyde University and a Higher Doctorate from Warwick University.

Duncan co-founded and co-chairs the National Consortium for Societal Resilience [UK+] which develops guidelines and shares good practices to help local resilience partners enhance their local resilience capability.

He leads standards writing on community resilience for the International Standards Organisation and is writing ISO 22354 on societal resilience. He advises government departments across the world - for example, helping to establish national spontaneous volunteer capabilities in Argentina and Chile. He also chairs the expert panel for the UK National Security Risk Assessment on human welfare.

He has worked with many places on creating local resilience capabilities and recently founded the International Consortium on Societal Resilience (i-NCSR+).

Renee Santos is a Senior Emergency Management Advisor with Wellington Region Emergency Management Agency (WREMO) in New Zealand.

She has been working in the community resilience and recovery space for the last 6 years, with a focus on disability-inclusive disaster risk reduction. She is an advocate for whole of community approaches that encourage people to take ownership of emergency resilience, plans, and actions.

Dr Dickson A. O. Akoh is a highly accomplished and well-educated youth development expert, known for his specialisation in creativity, innovation, peace-building, community service, and youth empowerment.

He is a pivotal figure in addressing the pressing challenges facing Nigerian youths. Dickson holds:

• A BSc (Hons) Degree in Sociology from the University of Abuja
• A Doctorate of Philosophy (Humanities) from Commonwealth University, Belize, South America
• A Professorship in Social Works from the Freedom University and Theological Seminary, Pottstown PA, USA.

He took the visionary step of establishing the Peace Corps of Nigeria (PCN) in 1998. PCN enjoys Special Consultative Status with the United Nations and African Union as a grassroots movement with over 175,000 officers across Nigeria.

In recognition of his outstanding leadership and tireless efforts to promote humanity's welfare, Dr Akoh has received over 120 Awards and honours from various reputable national and international organisations.

Francis is the CEO of the non-profit organisation, DMS NPC. The organisation provides integrated and funded community-based disaster risk management solutions for communities in need, with the aim of enhancing community resilience.

She holds a BSc Honours and an MPhil in Disaster Risk Science. Francis facilitates the sharing of knowledge and experiences on disaster risk management through her training, consulting and travelling.

She has explored multiple fields including:

• Community-based disaster risk programmes (UCT)
• International response to HIV/AIDS in emergencies (World Vision)
• Environmental management (Mark Wood & Consultants)
• Training and facilitation in the disaster risk management field (DMS NPC).

Francis strives to ensure that disaster risk management is everybody's business.

Boris is the creator of the first Disaster Risk Management Department in Chile. He is a promoter of a school model of early training and education for Disaster Risk Reduction.

He trained in Japan and is a Professor of the Master's Degree in Management and Resilient Architecture at the University of Concepción and of the diplomas in Disaster Risk Reduction and Crisis Intervention at the University in Concepción, and in Environmental and Disaster Risk Management at the University of Santiago.

Boris is a member of national commissions and international cooperation projects associated with the DRR.

Jenny is a Lecturer in Crisis and Disaster Management at Bournemouth University, with over 15 years of expertise in community resilience, volunteer management, and disaster risk reduction.

Dr. Moreno has significant experience in Chile and Argentina, where she contributed to developing national and local guidance on managing spontaneous volunteers in disaster response and recovery. Her research focuses on building resilience in vulnerable communities through intergenerational engagement and volunteer coordination.

She has presented her work at international conferences and published in peer-reviewed journals, advancing disaster management practices and resilience strategies in South America.

Michael works in the Netherlands at Rabobank, managing major incidents and crises. His expertise includes IT and Business Continuity, Crisis Management, and Resilience.

He shares his expertise as a lecturer and as a volunteer at the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) where he helps develop Business Continuity, Crisis Management and Organisational Resilience standards. He is also a volunteer at the Business Continuity Institute.

In 2019, he helped set up the Resilience Alliance (a non-profit foundation) to use his private sector experience to enhance societal resilience. Michael is part of the ISO Community Resilience working group and serves as the i-NSCR+ contact for the Netherlands.

His network-building skills facilitate sharing ideas and experiences across sectors at home and internationally.

The Union for the Promotion/Protection/Defense of Human Rights and the Environment (UPDDHE/GL) is a non-profit organisation concerned with promotion, protection, and defence of the rights of individuals (women, young people and children) and the environment.

It has branches nationwide and is a key player in the search for solutions to the various problems that affect vulnerable communities. The UPDDHE/GL puts its beneficiaries at the centre of any activity without leaving anyone behind.

It campaigns for:

• Improvement of living conditions in a climate of peace
• Humanitarian emergencies
• Sustainable development
• Food security and nutrition
• Peace-building, social cohesion and peaceful conflict resolution
• Disaster risk reduction
• Promotion of female leadership and empowerment of women and girls
• Fighting against all forms of sexual abuse and exploitation of women and girls
• Fighting against poverty and poor governance
• Formal and non-formal education - advocating for the effective implementation of localisation humanitarian and development assistance.

With the determination to provide a quality service and accountable to the satisfaction of all stakeholders, UPDDHE/GL systematically wants to make humanitarian principles fundamental in all its interventions.

Jenny Calder is the Response Specialist with Northland Emergency Management - building capacity and capability of the emergency management team, supporting staff to strengthen Marae and community engagement and resilience. She is also the Group Controller.

Jenny has worked in emergency responses in New Zealand including:

• Floods
• Covid-19
• Adverse weather events
• Missing persons.

She's also been deployed internationally with Task Force Kiwi, working in the recovery of wildfire, earthquake, flooding and severe weather events.

Jenny is a member of the Aotearoa New Zealand Emergency Management Assistance Team (NZ EMAT) and volunteer with Northland Land Search and Rescue and Taskforce Kiwi (TFK). 

Deb is a Community Recovery Operations Specialist working with rural and remote communities post-disaster to support them in recovery and resiliency efforts. She has worked at all levels of government in Canada (local, regional, provincial) as well as internationally, in this position.

Deb currently focuses on supporting non-profit groups in rural communities to build resiliency and preparedness plans. In this realm, Deb offers (and enjoys!) designing and creating tabletop exercises for groups and communities to test their resiliency and preparedness plans ahead of future events.

Dominique works at the heart of community risk management. Before, during or after disasters strike, those who call a community home are the ones who step up first. They know the risks, they care the most, and they have the greatest stake in building resilience.

Dominique, through an innovative, self-sustaining franchise model, supports community members to:

• Employ and empower their neighbours to collect localised data
• Support community awareness initiatives
• Act as first responders
• Provide feedback after disasters
• Help their community recover.

Chris is the Assistant Manager for West Sussex County Councils' Resilience and Emergencies Team. He is also a Co-Chair of the National Consortium for Societal Resilience (NCSR+) and sits on the NCSR+ Advisory Board.

He is a key member of Sussex Community Resilience Partnership – the working group linking Category 1 Responders with the Voluntary Sector. Chris also sits on the Sussex Resilience Forums' Response and Delivery Groups. After college he joined Cleveland Constabulary as a police officer. He later specialised in Police Command and Control and in Major Incident communications for 10 years.

Chris then joined West Sussex Fire and Rescue in their Command and Mobilising Centre and was a Mobilising Officer before his transfer to the Resilience and Emergencies Team in 2015. He took on the position of Assistant Manager early in the response to the Covid-19 Pandemic.

Becky is the Partnership Manager for the Suffolk Resilience Forum (SRF), working within public sector resilience since 2005. Her career began in Norfolk Fire and Rescue Service. Here, she managed multiagency emergency plans, risk files, and national resilience integration, as well as emergency incidents across Norfolk.

Following time in Norfolk and Suffolk Constabularies, Becky joined the Suffolk Resilience Forum, contributing to strategic planning during the EU Transition and the local response to Covid-19 whilst managing the SRF.

She has been involved in integrating the UK Government Resilient Framework with the Suffolk Local Resilience Strategy and leading on strategic resilience for Suffolk. As a co-chair of the National Consortium of Societal Resilience (NSCR+), she is committed to enhancing community resilience locally and nationally.

She works on initiatives to strengthen community resilience and engage the voluntary sector aiming to ensure that communities are better prepared and more robust in the face of challenges.

Ahmed has been the City Director of Ramallah since 2006, driving innovation and resilience in one of Palestine's most dynamic municipalities. A leader in local governance and crisis management, he co-founded initiatives like the Forum of Expertise and the Palestinian City Managers Network.

He serves as Ramallah's Chief Resilience Officer and represents the Middle East and Europe on the Resilient Cities Network's Steering Committee. A Humphrey Fellow and the region's first ICMA Credentialed Manager, he led Ramallah's ISO 22393 COVID response.

A strong advocate for SDG localisation, municipal reform, and cross-regional collaboration through global networks including UCLG, Metropolis, ICMA, Urban20 and others.

Dan Neely is the Community Resilience and Group Recovery Manager for the Wellington Region Emergency Management Office.

Dan is a powerful advocate for engaging local people in solving local problems and meeting local needs during emergencies - both large and small-scale - as a complimentary part of the emergency management system.

He has a unique and compelling narrative encouraging us all to think differently about delivering societal resilience, using complementary community development and emergency management approaches.

Ayham is a lecturer in management studies and operational disaster management. Ayham holds a PhD in business and management (operations management) from Alliance Manchester Business School and MSc in management for business excellence from the University of Warwick.

Ayham's experience covers diverse posts and sectors such as:

• Quality management
• Human Resources
• Change management in the not-for-profit and the commercial sectors.

His latest research aims at enhancing the resilience, agility and viability of systems during emergencies in the context of managing spontaneous volunteers during disasters.

Ayham's research interests involve enhancing systems' resilience and agility using soft operation methodologies (VSM and SSM), complexity management, change management, and systems thinking.

Andrew is a Research Fellow at the Alliance Manchester Business School (AMBS) working to enhance societal resilience to disruption.

He is currently engaged with the Resilience Beyond Observed Capabilities Network+ project, and the National Consortium for Societal Resilience. At AMBS, Andrew was previously a Research Associate on the ESRC-funded Recovery, Renewal, Resilience project, which supported local government on COVID-19 recovery planning.

A graduate of Coventry University and Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, Jacqui commenced her career in social services, holding various roles focused on meeting the needs of the most vulnerable in our communities.

In 1998, she assumed a senior role with the British Red Cross, managing and supporting 400 volunteers and staff. Her responsibilities included delivering specialist services such as emergency response, and developing needs-led services for vulnerable people across Scotland. She also led humanitarian work.

In 2001, Jacqui became the senior manager for risk, resilience, and safety for Angus Council. During her tenure, she gained extensive experience in dealing with large-scale and complex emergencies - researching and understanding their impact on citizens and communities.

Working with communities, she developed innovative and community-led approaches to dealing with emergencies and promoting societal resilience, including empowering refugees arriving from Ukraine.

Jacqui has provided advice and guidance at government levels and co-authored national policies, and doctrine. She has also submitted evidence to Select Committees.

From 2018 to 2022, Jacqui held the position of Chair of the Emergency Planning Society. During the Covid-19 pandemic, she was in high demand for media interviews and presentations, and was 'the voice' of the profession and members on the preparation and response to global emergencies.

Kenji Watanabe is a professor at the Graduate School of Social Engineering and Head of Disaster & Safety Management at the Nagoya Institute of Technology, with major research areas in risk management, business continuity management (BCM), and critical infrastructure protection (CIP).

He has over 20 years of business experiences at the Mizuho Bank, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and IBM Business Consulting Services. He is also a chair or a professional member of several Japanese governmental committees at the Critical Infrastructure Protection Council (Cabinet Secretariat), the Transportation Safety Council (Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism), Advisory Board for National Food Security (Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries), and others. He has PhD and MBA.

Joseph is currently the executive director of Union des Amis Socio Culturels d'Action en Développement (UNASCAD), an organisation that he founded in 1989. He worked for more than 20 years in the fight against AIDS and for the promotion of sex education, as well as the promotion of human rights.

Moreover, he worked in the training of the teachers and community leaders with the World Health Organisation (WHO). Following the earthquake in Haiti in 2010, Joseph worked with UNEP on disaster risk management.

Joseph was nominated by UNISDR as a delegate in the 30th Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in SENDAI, Japan. He is also the NGO Representative with IMEO, participates in OP UN Major Groups for the Caribbean region, and was a facilitator UN-Environment for Latin America and the Caribbean.