Siying Chen, Mei Ai and Christine Heinzel attended the General Assembly 2024 of the European Geosciences Union (EGU), which was held at the Austria Center Vienna (ACV) in Vienna, Austria, from 14–19 April 2024. The three STORIES team members presented exciting research results and seized the opportunity to exchange knowledge and insights with leading experts in the field. Check out the program below, and if you’re interested, feel free to contact us.

Siying did an oral presentation in Session ITS4.10/NH13.1 “Climate extremes, ecosystems, and society: impacts, cascades, systemic risk, and resilience”. She presented a study on a widespread, long-lasting disaster in 17th century China that had significant social impacts, examining the interactions between the environment and humans in that case.

Mei displayed a poster in Session ITS2.9/CL0.1.10 - Flood trends in cultural riverine landscapes: space-time dynamics, patterns, controls, and attribution. This study is based on an ethnographic anthropological research in the ethnic minority communities of the ancient Tea Horse Road region in southwestern China. Data was gathered using participant observations in community activities, semi-structured interviews, more open thematic conversations, and document review in July 2023. The study explored the flood culture system in indigenous communities and extracted community resilience indicators from this system and demonstrating their impact at different stages of flood events.

Christine presented a poster outlining her PhD research plan, aiming to foster active dialogue with colleagues regarding her ideas. Her current focus revolves around investigating the adaptive capacity of Chinese communities to flood hazards, alongside assessing the feasibility and efficacy of various flood risk management approaches. Ultimately, her overarching objective is to bolster community resilience in anticipation of the multifaceted challenges posed by climate change and urbanization.