Conferences

Past Conferences

The RIMMA conference was held for the first time in Switzerland, at the University of Bern, from 27.-31. January 2025. The conference was co-organized by Andreas Zischg (University of Bern, Oeschger Center for Climate Change Research and Mobiliar Lab for Natural Risks), Christophe Lienert (LAINAT, Federal Government of Switzerland and Co-Chair of the ICA Commission Cartography in Early Warning and Crisis Management), Horst Kremers (RIMMA Community of Experts), and David Bresch (ETH Zurich, Weather and Climate Risks).

The conference focused on the integrated management of natural hazards and risks, where information and warnings play a crucial role. One focus was on the effectiveness of warnings that enhance preparedness and complement forecasts and emergency planning. Real-time data and warnings must be accessible, understandable, and tailored to different user groups. Impact-based warnings require collaboration between meteorological services, warning services, and warning recipients. Another focus was on visualization and communication, which are key to effective forecasting and warning systems. Maps play a pivotal role in this communication. They are digital, interactive, real-time, and easy to grasp. They integrate spatiotemporal big data and multimedia and are an essential element of digital twins.

The conference addressed open questions about user-centered information management, visualization of uncertainties, and the economic and humanitarian impacts of natural hazards, alongside topics such as system interoperability, process standardization, and early warning distribution channels.

RIMMA2025 brought together a diverse range of disciplines and experts, including meteorological and warning services, disaster and risk managers, emergency responders, and specialists in cartography, visualization, and communication. The conference attracted 230 participants from 30 countries with research, government, and private industry backgrounds. The conference invited for various contribution formats, such as workshops, sessions, round-tables, side-events, exercises, panels, oral speeches, and posters. Contributions ranged on the one hand from global to local topics, and on the other hand from conceptual frameworks to (hands-on, technological) applications. Vivid discussions were led in a constructive way. New technology, increased interconnectedness, humanitarian risk management, and insurance aspects supported discussions on new, more user- and impact-oriented solutions using established methods and novel, advanced technologies like AI and ML.

The ICA, as well as the Swiss Society of Cartography, were actively present at the conference. Two keynotes were held by ICA representatives (one by ICA President Georg Gartner on “The relevance of cartography in the context of natural hazards and risks” and one by ICA Commission Co-Chair Shen Jie on “Cartography for Emergency and Disaster Management: Hotspots and Development Trends”). Other keynotes were held by representatives of the Swiss Government, the World Meteorological Organization, and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Four ICA commissions (Commissions Early Warning and Crisis Management, GeoAI, Geovisualization, and Cognitive Issues in Geographic Information Visualization) organized and held workshops, interactive panels, and sessions. Representatives of these commissions also delivered oral speeches.

RIMMA2025 participants took advantage of a very interdisciplinary event that linked various domains (forecasting, preparedness, warning, and response with visualization and communication) that usually still work rather sectorally and not entirely together. This thematic combination and linkage received very positive and encouraging feedback. Bridging various domains and enabling discussions on common (future) grounds was one of the main goals of RIMMA2025 and could be accomplished.

On the last conference day, two excursions were offered. One took place at the headquarters of swisstopo (i.a., geodata lab, cartographic production, environmental observation). The other excursion brought interested participants to the Jungfrau Joch high altitude research station.

The conference contributions are published in the series “Abstracts of the ICA”, vol. 9 (https://ica-abs.copernicus.org/articles/9/).

Full papers are being submitted to a Special Issue on Cartography and Early Warning in the International Journal of Cartography, edited by the ICA.

Workshop on Compound Weather and Climate Events

12 - 15 January 2021

The aim of the workshop was to bring together specialists in the fields of atmospheric and climate science, climate impact modelling, statistics, forecasting, hazard prevention and first responders, and structural, societal and ecological vulnerability. The workshop offered a platform to assess the current state of research, formulate key research question and highlight ways forward. It also fostered interdisciplinary exchange and exchange between science and application.

The workshop took place fully online and recordings of all sessions are available here. The workshop website is available here.

2nd European Hail Workshop

19 - 21 April 2017

Contact: Prof. Dr. Olivia Romppainen-Martius, Co-Director Mobiliar Lab for Natural Risks, Professor for Climate Impact Research

You can find all the informations here (podcasts, posters and pictures).

NEWS: MeteoSwiss has released a blog entry about the hail workshop.

Workshop

The workshop was attended by 140 interested people from 18 different countries. The program included 37 presentations and a poster session on issues including

  • Convection and hail in a changing climate
  • Hail damage and hail damage prevention
  • Local probabilities and long-term statistics of hail
  • The microphysics and dynamics of hail storms: observations and modelling
  • Nowcasting and forecasting of hail (including case studies)

Risikobasiertes Naturgefahren-Management: Bedeutung und Grenzen ökonomischer Daten

12 - 13 September 2016

Contact: PD Dr. Margreth Keiler, Group Leader, PI

50 interdisziplinäre Fachleute folgten der Einladung des Mobiliar Labs für Naturrisiken und erarbeiteten die Grenzen von ökonomischen Daten für die Erfassung und Bewertung von Exposition und Vulnerabilität, sowie hinsichtlich der Koppelung von Schadensdaten und Investitionen in die Prävention.

Risikobasiertes Naturgefahren-Management bedeutet, Massnahmen zum Schutz vor Naturgefahren auf Grundlage quantifizierter Risiken zu treffen und Präventionsmassnahmen zielgerichtet zu verwirklichen. Auf Einladung des Mobiliar Labs für Naturrisiken trafen sich 50 interdisziplinäre Fachleute an der Universität Bern und diskutierten, welchen Stellenwert ökonomische Daten für die Erfassung und Bewertung von exponierten Objekten, Vulnerabilitäten und Präventionsmassnahmen haben. Vertreterinnen und Vertreter des BAFUs, der Kantone, der mit Naturgefahren befassten Fachstellen, der Versicherer, der Privatwirtschaft und Wissenschaftlerinnen und Wissenschaftler aus dem In- und Ausland nahmen an der Tagung und dem Workshop teil. Zwei Tage lang erarbeiteten sie gemeinsam Strategien und Lösungsvorschläge, wie der Schutz vor Naturgefahren und das Risikomanagement effizienter gestaltet werden kann.


Margreth Keiler (Mobiliar Lab) erläutert wie die ökonomischen Daten für Exposition-, Vulnerabilitätsanalysen als Basis für Entscheidungen im Risikomanagement genutzt werden können.

Die Tagung startete am Montagmorgen mit der ersten Session über den Stand der Wissenschaft zur Bedeutung und Grenzen der ökonomischen Daten für das risikobasierte Naturgefahren-Management, in welcher Vertreter des Helmholtz-Zentrums für Umweltforschung, der Universität für Bodenkultur Wien, des Mobiliar Labs sowie von alpS den aktuellen Stand der Wissenschaft erläuterten.


Markus Feltscher (Ratspräsident der Präventionsstiftung der KGV) referiert über "Schadentrends, Klimawandel und Risikovorsorge".

Am Nachmittag folgte die zweite Session mit Präsentationen von Vertretern der Mobiliar, der Präventionsstiftung der KGV sowie der Universität Potsdam bezüglich der Herausforderungen und Erfahrungen mit risikobasiertem Naturgefahren-Management aus der Praxis.


Stephanie Natho (Universität Potsdam) präsentiert ihr Poster Teilnehmern der Tagung.

In der Pause des praxisorieniterten Blocks fand die Postersession statt, bei welcher diverse Projekte der Universität Potdsam, des Helmholtz-Zentrums für Umwelforschung sowie des Mobiliar Labs für Naturrisiken vorgestellt wurden.


Margreth Keiler (Mobiliar Lab für Naturrisiken) begrüsst die Teilnehmer zur Exkursion beim Rosengarten.

Am Dienstagmorgen wurden unter der Leitung von Rolf Weingartner (Mobiliar Lab), Luzius Thomi (Die Mobiliar) und Kurt Scheidegger (Die Mobiliar)  das risikobasierte Naturgefahren-Management im Mattequartier in Bern vor Ort veranschaulicht.


Die Teilnehmer diskutieren während des Workshops rege über risikobasiertes Naturgefahren-Management.

Zum Schluss folgte ein Workshop-Block, in welchem sich die Teilnehmer der Wissenschaft sowie der Praxis in zwei Gruppen mit den Themen Exposition, Verletzlichkeit sowie Koppelung von Schadensdaten und Investitionen in die Prävention befassten. Die Resultate wurden Am Ende der Tagung präsentiert und diskutiert.

Die Tagung ist eine gemeinsame Veranstaltung von:

                    

1st European Hail Workshop

25 - 27 June 2014

Contact: Prof. Dr. Olivia Romppainen-Martius, Co-Director Mobiliar Lab for Natural Risks, Professor for Climate Impact Research

In several regions of Europe, including Switzerland, south-west Germany and Austria, hail damage has increased substantially in recent years with the consequence that hail is now one of the major atmospheric risks. From 25th to 27th June 2014 the Mobiliar Lab, the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), MeteoSwiss, and the Oeschger Centre for Climate Change (OCCR) jointly organized a workshop for researchers and professionals to discuss different aspects of hail.

Workshop

The workshop was attended by 140 interested people from 27 different countries. The program included 40 presentations and a poster session on issues including

  • Convection and hail in a changing climate
  • Microphysics and dynamics of hail storms
  • Hail damage and hail damage prevention
  • Local probabilities and long-term statistics of hail
  • Nowcasting and forecasting of hail

Further information can be found at the following link: http://occrold.unibe.ch/events/conferences/hail/index_en.html