An important part of the agenda for the meeting in Kandy, Sri Lanka was research sandpit activities. These were part of the innovation hub (WP4) for the project. They had a highly multidisciplinary mix of participants to drive lateral thinking and radical approaches to address major regional challenges in multi-hazard early warning, whether they be related to policy, research or education. The sandpits were intensive discussion forums where free thinking was encouraged to delve into the problems on the agenda to uncover innovative solutions. Each sandpit was proposed and led by a nominated representative from the partnership who defined the topic and facilitated discussions at the event.
For the Kandy meeting, several sandpit events were held in parallel. Participants could choose which sandpit was of most interest to them:
1. Enhancing disaster resilience education in Asia
2. Gaps in Evacuation Planning for Coastal communities – Case Studies in Myanmar, Sri Lanka & Philippines
3. Multi-hazard interface: Legal and institutional framework; further exploring the definition of downstream in the contact of multi hazard early warning systems      4. Disaster and Climate Change Resilience in Small States Islands & Archipelagic States & Remote Coastal Regions
5. Public private partnerships - PPP Initiatives To improve Coastal resilience in Harbour projects
6. Local government and risk mapping: how HEIs can contribute to enhancing the capacity of local government in conducting risk assessment at the local level.