Reviving my Research Blog

I am reviving this blog as part of my PhD journey. :-)

Anyone who is interested in what I am researching is most welcome to comment!

Initial Reading List for Resettlement Research

After an initial search of related literature, here is my initial reading list:

CERNEA, M. 1995. Social integration and population displacement. International Social Science Journal, 143, 91-112.

CERNEA, M. M. 1996. Public policy responses to development-induced population displacements. Economic and political weekly, 1515-1523.

CERNEA, M. M. 1997. The risks and reconstruction model for resettling displaced populations. World development, 25, 1569-1587.

CERNEA, M. M. 1999. Why economic analysis is essential to resettlement: a sociologist's view. Economic and Political Weekly, 2149-2158.

CERNEA, M. M. 2000. Risks, safeguards and reconstruction: a model for population displacement and resettlement. Economic and Political Weekly, 3659-3678.

CERNEA, M. M. 2003a. For a new economics of resettlement: a sociological critique of the compensation principle. International Social Science Journal, 55, 37-45.

CERNEA, M. M. 2003b. Resettlement. In: CHRISTENSEN, K. & LEVINSON, D. (eds.) Encyclopedia of Community: From the Village to the Virtual World. Sage Publications.

KINSEY, B. H. & BINSWANGER, H. P. 1993. Characteristics and performance of resettlement programs: A review. World Development, 21, 1477-1494.

KRANTZ, L. 2001. The sustainable livelihood approach to poverty reduction. SIDA. Division for Policy and Socio-Economic Analysis.

OLIVER‐SMITH, A. 1991. Successes and Failures in Post‐Disaster Resettlement. Disasters, 15, 12-23.

PEISKER, V. C. & TILBURY, F. 2004. “Active” and “Passive” Resettlement: The Influence of Support Services and Refugees' own Resources on Resettlement Style. International Migration, 41, 61-91.

PENG, Y., SHEN, L., TAN, C., TAN, D. & WANG, H. 2013. Critical determinant factors (CDFs) for developing concentrated rural settlement in post-disaster reconstruction: a China study. Natural Hazards, 1-19.

SHAW, J. & AHMED, I. 2010. Design and delivery of post-disaster housing resettlement programs. Case studies from Sri Lanka and India. Report, 6.

VIRATKAPAN, V. & PERERA, R. 2006. Slum relocation projects in Bangkok: what has contributed to their success or failure? Habitat international, 30, 157-174.

Risks in Resettling

When faced with an option either to choose between ecological hazard and social hazard... some people would accept the hazard of ecological risks of staying in a disaster prone area over choosing to resettle elsewhere because of the imposing social risks (which may be a fate much worse). (Oliver-Smith, 1991)

Source:
A. Oliver Smith. 1991. Success and Failures in Post-Disaster Resettlement. Disasters - the Journal of Disaster Studies and Management Vol 15. No.1

Begin: Operations Research in Disaster Risk Management

I have joined a research group here in the Ateneo, and we are focusing on (1) operations research and (2) disaster risk management. Basically, we will look into how management science can contribute to management of disaster relief operations.

Some definitions:

Operations Research -  as defined by the European Operations Research Societies is "the scientific approach to the solution of problems in the management of complex systems". (Altay and Green, 2006)

Disaster Operations - "the set of activities that are performed before, during and after a disaster with the goal of preventing loss of human life, reducing impact in economy and returning to a state of normalcy". (Altay and Green, 2006)

I am quite excited with this research area as it is something of great relevance here in the Philippines! Also, I think I can bring in contributions based on my knowledge in project management and risk management.

I have a lot to read though, specially to catch up with my colleagues on Operations Research and System Dynamics!

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References: Altay, N., & Green, W. G. (2006). OR/MS research in disaster operations management. European Journal of Operational Research, 175(1), 475–493.

Mendeley for Research Groups

I had just recently joined a research group in our school. This is an interdisciplinary research group and we are working on two research projects involving sustainability, disaster risk management, management science, and institutions management. To start off we are trying to build a repository for the research group. My colleague introduced Mendeley to us. It seems to have good reference management system and file sharing mechanism! As my colleague says, it's the i-tunes for research.

I am optimistic with it, my only reservation is that I have grown too comfortable with using EndNote for my referencing. But Mendeley seems to have an equally good referencing system too... If our group's repository works out, then I might completely migrate to using Mendeley.

Trying a Documents Link

Blogger seems to have limited capability in terms of uploading files. It seems that it can only upload images and videos. I'm trying to work around this through Skydrive. Here is a link to an old syllabus (.doc file), just checking if it works:

Link

Fingers crossed.

My Official Thesis Acknowledgements

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to firstly thank my supervisor, Alec Fearon. His mentoring style, philosophical mind, diagramming abilities, humour, and care helped me immensely throughout the year. I am a better researcher and thinker because of him.

I would like to thank Dennis Silverwood, for aiding me in improving my work through his insights, criticisms, and tough questions.

I would like to acknowledge Eddie Borup, for being my exploratory guide through the United Nations Development Programme; for occasionally bringing me out of the archival dead-end.

I would like to recognise Ned Robins, for sparking and fuelling my interest in risk management.

I would like to thank my friends. I endured because of them.

Finally, I would like to express my sincerest gratitude to my family. Completing this thesis would have not been possible without their support, their prayers, and their belief in me. My special thanks to my twin-sister, for being my constant source of encouragement.

Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam