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The Appraising Risk Partnership

A Historical Database of Climatic Crises in the Indian Ocean World

The Historical Database ↗

Maps and Visualizations ↗

One of the goals of the Appraising Risk partnership is to utilize data collected from diverse specialties and disciplines to analyze and visualize the complex relationship between environment, ecology, culture and history in the Indian Ocean World.

The IOW Podcast ↗

The Indian Ocean World Podcast seeks to educate and inform its listeners on topics concerning the relationship between humans and the environment throughout the history of the Indian Ocean World.


Our Project

The Appraising Risk Partnership is an international collaboration of scholars and researchers dedicated to exploring the critical role of climatic crisis in the past and future of the Indian Ocean World. With generous support from The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the partnership seeks to create a comprehensive spatial and temporal database of human-environment interaction and interdependence during periods of climatic change.


Latest from the Partnership:


The Indian Ocean World Centre (IOWC) is a research initiative and resource base established to promote the study of the history, economy, and cultures of the lands and peoples of the Indian Ocean world (IOW) – from China to Southeast and South Asia, the Middle East and Africa.

Our most recent podcast:

James Warren – "Typhoons: Climate, Society, and History in the Philippines" The Indian Ocean World Podcast

This week, Dr. Philip Gooding (IOWC) is joined by Prof. James Warren (Murdoch) to discuss his monumental new book, Typhoons: Climate, Society, and History in the Philippines. Their conversation covers Prof. Warren's decades-long research project that led to this book, the impact of extreme storms on South East (and especially Philippine) history, and the shifting social dynamics that impact vulnerability to such events. Prof. James Warren is Emeritus Professor of History at Murdoch University in Perth, Western Australia. Over his long and celebrated career, he has published 9 books and over 140 shorter pieces, held posts at universities on three continents, and made major contributions to research in South East Asian history, particularly environmental history. Links: University profile: https://researchportal.murdoch.edu.au/esploro/profile/james_warren/overview Typhoons: Climate, Society, and History in the Philippines: https://unipress.ateneo.edu/product/typhoons-climate-society-and-history-philippines The Indian Ocean World Podcast is hosted by Dr. Philip Gooding, produced and edited by Sam Gleave Riemann, and published under the SSHRC-funded Partnership "Appraising Risk, Past and Present." Music: "Nam Nhi-tu" by M. Nguyen Van Minh-Con

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