This panel invites experts from various perspectives to share their insights and discuss both risks and possible solutions in terms of regional institutional capacity, multilevel governance and policy reaction to mitigate the impact of natural disasters in the European regions.
According to the EU Commission, 87 million European people (EU27 + UK) are exposed to a variety of natural disasters, such as coastal flooding, river flooding, landslides, earthquakes, wildfires, and soil shrinking and swelling (JRC, 2025). Italy has the highest number of people exposed to multiple hazards, with more than 20 million residents exposed; together with the Netherlands, France, Spain, and Germany, these countries account for 55% of the EU’s population exposed to multi-hazards (JRC, 2025). Natural disasters have significant and often disastrous impacts, leading to fatalities, displacement, destruction and extensive economic damage, with specific local and regional footprints. Recent research has shown that the impact of natural disasters could lead to long-term decline in the economic growth of European regions, affecting persistently also firms’ performance and survival: the overall economic effect and the recovery path are strongly influenced by the quality of regional institutions (Di Marcoberardino & Cucculelli, 2024; Fatica et al., 2024). Beyond the characteristics of the natural disaster, the potential for regions to cope with adverse impacts, and their capacity to endure and recover from it, depend on a set of socio-economic factors and conditions: whilst regional vulnerability is linked to prevention, preparedness, and mitigation, resilience is connected to response, reconstruction, and recovery (Noy & Yonson, 2018). Inevitably, low-income regions are more vulnerable and less resilient than high-income regions (JRC, 2025).
Meet our speakers
Eric Neumayer, he is Professor of Environment and Development at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). He is currently the School’s Vice President and Pro-Vice Chancellor (Planning and Resources) and Deputy President. Eric joined LSE in 1998 and has served our School in numerous leadership positions, including as Head of the Geography and Environment Department, Vice Chair of the Appointments Committee, inaugural Pro-Director (Faculty Development), Vice President and Pro-Vice Chancellor (Planning and Resources), Deputy President and Vice Chancellor and, in 2023-2024, as our School’s Interim President and Vice Chancellor. An economist by training, Eric has published widely as the author of five books and in journals across multiple disciplines including environmental economics, geography, international political economy and quantitative research methods.
Maria Dolores Pitarch Garrido, she isProfessor of Human Geography in the Department of Geography at the University of Valencia, she has an extensive research, teaching and management career of more than 30 years of university dedication. She has published more than 50 articles and book chapters, has been PI of a national project and 3 projects funded by the EU within H2020. She has been director of the Interuniversity Institute of Local Development of the UVEG and UJI, vice-dean of the Faculty of Geography and History and president of the CAT of Geography and Environment
Andres Rodriguez-Pose, he is the Princesa de Asturias Chair and a Professor of Economic Geography at the London School of Economics. He is the Director of the Cañada Blanch Centre LSE. He is a former Head of the Department of Geography and Environment between 2006 and 2009. He is a past-President of the Regional Science Association International (RSAI) (2015-2017) and served as Vice-President of the RSAI in 2014. He was also Vice-President (2012-2013) and Secretary (2001-2005) of the European Regional Science Association.
Meet our chair
Simona Iammarino is Professor of Applied Economics at the Department of Economics and Business of the University of Cagliari, Italy; Visiting Professor at the Department of Geography & Environment of the London School of Economics (LSE); member of the Board of the LSE-Cañada Blanch Centre; affiliate faculty member at the Gran Sasso Science Institute (GSSI) L’Aquila, Italy. She was Professor of Economic Geography at the LSE (2009-2022), where she acted as Head of Department (2014-2017) and academic member of the LSE Council (2016-2020).
More about this event
The Cañada-Blanch Centre at LSE is the vehicle to achieve the objective of the Fundación Cañada Blanch: developing and reinforcing the links between the United Kingdom and Spain. This is done by means of fostering cutting-edge knowledge generation and joint research projects between researchers in the United Kingdom, and at LSE in particular, on the one hand, and Spain, on the other.
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