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Project Organisation
The project "Research Capacity Building in Nature-Induced Disaster Mitigation in Central America 2008–2010" is funded by Sida (Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency; the Spanish acronym is Asdi). The project consists of a Central American part and a Swedish part. The Central American part is administered by CSUCA (Central American University Council, located at the campus of University of San Carlos of Guatemala) and the Swedish part by ISP (International Science Programme, located at Uppsala University).
The main thrust of the project will be carried out by eight public universities in Central America. This is where the research will be based and the research needs will be defined. The main Swedish part will be the training of Central American candidates to become researchers. An important part of this training will be carried out at Uppsala University, which plans to launch a research school in natural-disaster science as a major component of this training.
National Research Hubs
The range of disciplines related to natural disasters is broad. Central American research resources are limited and it is not possible to cover the costs of successful research in all relevant disciplines. In this project, regional cooperation and division of labour aim at facilitating this problem.
Eight public universities, one per country and all members of CSUCA, participate in this project and represent eight national research hubs. Each national research hub, also called hub university, will build research capacity through the execution of research projects, improved scientific infrastructure and equipment, and training of researchers (mainly research studies). Since a main project goal is to strengthen the research capacity of the hub universities, it is imperative that all candidates admitted to research studies in Sweden are or will be affiliated to a hub university. Each hub university has a responsibility for a specific research area, according to the table below. It is, thus, important that each candidate specifies both the hub university where she/he is or wants to be employed, and the research area where he/she wants to do research.
Hub University |
Research Area |
| Sea-Coastal Degradation | |
| Univ. of San Carlos of Guatemala | Watershed Management (Territorial Planning) |
| Volcanology | |
| Nat. Auto. Univ. of Honduras | Environmental and risk management |
| Nat. Auto. Univ. of Nicaragua – Managua | Landslides |
| Univ. of Costa Rica | Meteorology |
| Univ. of Panama | Hydrology |
| Auto. Univ. of Santo Domingo | Social Sciences |