Turning knowledge into action

Risk is not static

The central theme of the symposium was how climate and societal change are reshaping natural hazards. Landslides, floods and avalanches are hitting more infrastructure and more communities, and meeting that challenge requires research, engineering, governance and practice to work far more closely together.

“Events like the one in the Himalayas remind us that risk is not static. The hazards themselves, the exposure and the vulnerability all change over time, and on top of that we have cascading effects that add further complexity,” said Luca Piciullo, Lead Engineer at NGI, who co-chaired the symposium with Graham Gilbert, Lead Geoscientist.

“We come from different disciplines and different cultures, but we share the same challenge: reducing the risk that climate change poses to people and infrastructure,” Piciullo added.

Three partnerships, one community

GEOS grows out of three international research and education projects led by NGI: GEOMME, NATRISK and IP4EWS, funded by the Research Council of Norway and HK-dir through the INTPART programme, with partners in Japan, South Korea, Brazil, India and Canada.

Since 2022, around 250 researchers, students and practitioners have taken part in courses and field activities. GEOS 2026 was the first event to bring together participants from all three projects at the same time.

For several of the participants, that continuity is the point. Joon-Young Park, who has been part of GEOMME since 2022, says the greatest value lies in knowing the people on the other side of a shared problem.

“It is always good to see colleagues and friends from NGI, from Japan and from the other countries, and to discuss the problems we have in common. That is where the inspiration for future research comes from,” says Park, a senior researcher at the Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources (KIGAM).

Ana Luiza Coelho Netto also points to the value of meeting and building expertise together. She is Professor of Geography and Geomorphology at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and part of the NATRISK project, which brings together researchers and graduate students from Brazil, India and Norway.

“What matters is bringing different expertise together around common challenges, so that we are better prepared before the next disaster. These are solutions none of us can find alone,” says Coelho Netto.

The link between science and practice is a key ambition for GEOS. Gilbert and Piciullo see the symposium as a starting point for new research collaborations, joint proposals and solutions that can be put to use in the countries the participants come from.

“GEOS is not only a chance to learn across contexts, but is also starting point for future collaborations. The ideas and solution discussed in Oslo need to be carried forward into concrete innovations and research projects. The responsibility for this is shared between all participants,” says Graham Gilbert.

When the extraordinary becomes ordinary

Closing the symposium, Dominik Lang, Director of Natural Hazards at NGI, returned to the disaster in the Himalayas and to what makes it so recognisable to the people in the room.

“One event can trigger another, and another. A glacier collapse becomes a debris avalanche; the debris avalanche becomes a flood; the flood damages roads, bridges, hydropower facilities and communities. What begins high in the mountains can affect people and infrastructure far downstream,” he said.

The past summer offered examples from around the world: heatwaves and drought, major wildfires, cloudbursts, floods and landslides. Even the word “cloudburst”, once reserved for something unusual, has become a routine part of the weather forecast.

“The extraordinary is becoming disturbingly ordinary. These events are not illustrations in scientific presentations or scenarios belonging to some distant future. They are happening now,” Lang said.

Better models, monitoring and early warning are urgently needed, he argued. But the warnings must also reach decision-makers, and they must be understood and acted upon.

“Hazards do not respect national borders, administrative boundaries or the boundaries between academic disciplines,” Lang said, adding that no single researcher, institution, discipline or country can meet these challenges alone.