I am grateful to Ilan and Terry for bringing up the h u g e subject of research funding. I don't think Terry was impuning the reputation of anyone in particular at UCL, and, indeed, I, too, am affiliated with UCL in a Hazards Research Centre until recently funded by a reinsurance company. I think Terry raised the general question of how funding influences research. This has been thoroughly discussed as regards medical and pharmaceutical research. With the exception of money going to climate change deniers, there has been little systematic research into how funding influences investigation of resource management, urban planning and also, importantly, disaster risk reduction/ creation. As Ilan notes, one has to look at the work done by the people funded directly or indirectly (via institutional support). I myself am just wrapping up work on climate change adaptation in northeast Tanzania funded by the US National Science Foundation. Our team felt no constraints or influences from the funding body whatsoever. Looking at the 'naming rights' claimed by wealthy individuals and corporations in every university -- the X,Y,Z fellowship, institute, lecture theatre, building or lab -- there can't be any institution of higher education and research that does not use private wealth.
I have given this chain a different name, hoping that we can focus on a substantive discussion of Brazil, as Victor requested, keeping the topic of research funding separate.
All the best,
BEN
-----Original Message-----
From: Ilan Kelman <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Nov 14, 2015 10:16 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Framing disaster - Dam collapse in Brazil
Ilan
Other UCL staff, clearly, are employed at the Institute for Sustainable Resources. Yet staff members from this institute were involved in the 2015 Lancet Commission on Climate Change and Health
http://www.thelancet.com/commissions/climate-change-2015 fully endorsing our findings and recommendations which could hardly be said to be supportive of the resource extraction sector.
My salary and overhead at UCL are paid by the UK government. Is the UK government any better or any worse than BHP Billiton in terms of disasters and sustainability? My publications on how vulnerability is created and perpetuated, including by multinational corporations and by the UK government, speak for themselves with one example from amongst many being
http://currents.plos.org/disasters/article/the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly-disaster-risk-reduction-drr-versus-disaster-risk-creation-drc I lead a Norway-funded project on corporate social responsibility for Arctic petroleum
http://csroil.org several papers of which are under review. The manuscripts include some severe criticisms of those involved in the case studies, including governments and companies. We shall see whether or not our criticisms survive peer review.
For those who know David Alexander, has he ever been afraid to speak his mind?
UCL has approximately 6,000 academic staff. The evidence above shows that some of them continue their independent thinking and publishing.
Nevertheless, absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. Lack of evidence of those controlling their thoughts due to financial support received is not evidence that no one subjects themselves to such control. We can say that UCL has a diverse staff with a diversity of opinions, some of whom publicly express sentiments similar to those from Terry below--and who publish the evidence in open access peer-reviewed scientific journals.
Ilan
BHP Billington who co-own the mine where the retention dam collapsed donated US$ 10 million to UCL in 2011 to set up an "Institute of Sustainable Resources"...
Nice company to keep and I am sure it is producing independent research that has no problem criticising large corporations that cause damage around the world.
cheers
Terry Cannon
On 14 November 2015 at 12:16 Ilan Kelman <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Dear Victor,
Warmest regards,
Ilan
Dear colleagues,
Have you heard about the dam collapse that occurred in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil?
Thanks,
Victor
Dr. Ben Wisner
Aon-Benfield UCL Hazard Research Centre, University College London, UK
& Sokoine University of Agriculture, Morogoro, Tanzania
& Environmental Studies Program, Oberlin College, Oberlin, OH, USA
"People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care."