Keynote Speakers

David K. Chester

David K. Chester

I have been an researcher for over forty-five years and have worked on a variety of hazard and hazard-related issues. These have included: assessing and mapping volcanic and seismic threats; using archival sources to reconstruct the effects of large-scale historic earthquakes and eruptions on people their activities; the role of religious belief (Judaism, Christianity, Islam and Hinduism) in influencing cultural responses to extreme natural events and regional studies of volcanology and seismology in Italy, mainland Portugal, the Azores, the Canaries, Peru and the USA. I have published: 5 research volumes (as author and editing); over 40 book chapters and in excess of 60 articles in learned journals. My latest jointly written volume concerns the historic volcanoes and earthquakes of the Azores. Outside the hazard sphere, I have researched human influences on landscape change in the circum-Mediterranean during the Holocene and the intellectual history of volcanology. As well as employed at the University of Liverpool for most of my academic life and more latterly at Liverpool Hope, I am also a priest in the Anglican (i.e. Episcopalian) Church. In 2020 I retired from university service, but remain an active researcher and hold an emeritus post at the University of Liverpool.

Gordon Woo

Dr. Gordon Woo is a catastrophist at Risk Management Solutions, specializing in the quantitative modeling of extreme risks, in particular earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. He has undertaken seismic hazard assessments for most countries, and has developed his own computer programs for probabilistic hazard analysis. He also has considerable experience in volcano hazard assessments. His current research has focused on the simulation of natural hazard historical catalogues.
His work lies at the interface between geohazards and georisks, and he is the editor of the Frontiers in Earth Science section on ‘Geohazards and Georisks’. He has contributed notably to the literature on evidence-based decision-making during volcanic crises, including developing the use of risk-informed evacuation protocols. Among his recent publications, he has written the chapter on geophysical hazards for the Elsevier dictionary of geology.
Educated at Cambridge, MIT and Harvard, he is the author of the books ‘The Mathematics of Natural Catastrophes’ and ‘Calculating Catastrophe’, published by World Scientific Press. He is also a visiting professor at University College London, and an adjunct professor at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.

Joan Martí

Joan Martí

Since he obtained a PhD in Geology at the University of Barcelona in 1986, Joan Martí, has con-centrated his scientific career on physical volcanology, experimental and numerical modelling of vol-canic processes, and volcanic hazard assessment, as researcher at the Institute of Earth Sciences Jaume Almera (ICTJA), of the Spanish Research Council (CSIC). Professor of Research since 2000 and director of this Institute since 2019, he has been Secretary of the Volcanic Risk Section of the EGU (2004-2007), Secretary General of the IAVCEI (2007-2015), and Chair of the IUGG Commis-sion on Geophysical Risk and Sustainability (GRC) (2015 -2018). Chief Editor of the Journal of Vol-canology and Geothermal Research (Elsevier) from 2007 to 2019, and Associated Editor of the Journal of Natural Hazards and Earth Sciences Studies (NHESS, EGU) (2006 to 2010) and Minerals (2020-), he has coordinated several EC funded projects and is Member of the Academia Europaea since 2014 and Honorary Fellow of the IUGG since 2019. Co-editor of the books "Volcanoes and the Environment" (CUP, 2005) and “Caldera Volcanism" (Elsevier 2008), is the principal author and co-author of over 250 peer-reviewed papers.

Silvia Peppoloni

Silvia Peppoloni

PhD geologist, researcher at the Italian Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology, her scientific activity concerns georisks, geohazards and their communication to society. She is an international leader of geoethics, fully involved in the base research on philosophy of geosciences, focusing on ethical, social and cultural implications of geoscience knowledge, research and practice, and on key concepts for society such as sustainability, prevention, adaptation and geo-education. Adjunct Professor at the University of Rome "Sapienza" (2008-2011), she is founding member and Secretary General of the International Association for Promoting Geoethics, Director of the School on Geoethics and Natural Issues, Councillor of the International Union of Geological Sciences (2018-2022), member of boards of several organizations (among them the International Council for Philosophy and the International Association of Engineering Geology and Environment Italian section). Work package/task leader and member of advisory boards in European projects, editor of volumes on geoethics for Elsevier, Springer, Geological Society of London, Annals of Geophysics, she is Editor in Chief of the SpringerBrief on geoethics, science writer and contributor of Italian newspaper/magazines, co-author of the "Geoethical Promise" and the "Cape Town Statement on Geoethics". She has been awarded in Italy with prizes for science communication and natural literature.