How to bridge theory, policy and practice in post-disaster shelter?

Earlier this year Laura Heykoop, Bernadette Devilat and I ran a Shelter Research PechaKucha to test one way of bridging the theory-policy-practice divide.  The aim of the event was to bring together Masters and PhD students researching shelter, settlements and disasters in order to share their research with policy-makers and practitioners actively working in this field.  Presenters were identified through an open competition and this resulted in a diverse range of presentations and some great conversations.  We used the fast-paced PechaKucha format and made sure there was plenty of time for discussion in between.

The event itself was fun and I know that lots of interesting ideas were shared and connections made.  However, we also know that better links between researchers, policy-makers and practitioners cannot just be made overnight and so we hope to run another (even better!) PechaKucha in March 2014.  All the posters and presentations from the PechaKucha are available here (many thanks to Chris Sinclair for the videos) and you can follow @UK ShelterForum for details of the next event.