La gestión del riesgo de desastres es una parte integral de la sostenibilidad, y los currículos que se enfocan en la sostenibilidad pueden ser ampliados para incluir la gestión del riesgo de desastres. El David O'Brien Centre for Sustainable Enterprise de Concordia University investiga y enseña la gestión del riesgo de desastres a través de la participación en proyectos colaborativos de la red Future Earth de la Organización de las Naciones Unidas (ONU) para el desarrollo de una Red de ''Conocimiento para la Acción'' para un Sistema Financiero y Económico Sostenible (SFES-KAN). SFES-KAN busca alinear el sistema financiero actual con los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible de la ONU por medio de la identificación de vacíos en la investigación y la facilitación de una investigación interdisciplinaria entre los académicos, profesionales y legisladores con el fin de llenar dichos vacíos. Nuestra investigación acerca de estos temas de gestión del riesgo e inversiones sostenibles, al igual que para el proyecto SFES-KAN, se ha convertido en investigación sobre gestión del riesgo de desastres y ha conducido al desarrollo curricular de estos temas. El objetivo de este artículo es el de brindar a otras instituciones ejemplos e información estratégica acerca de cómo traducir la investigación de sostenibilidad, interdisciplinaria y orientada a las soluciones, a investigación y currículos sobre gestión del riesgo de desastres.

Disaster risk management is an integral part of sustainability, and curricula that are focused on sustainability can be broadened to include disaster risk management. The David O'Brien Centre for Sustainable Enterprise at Concordia University researches and teaches disaster risk management through involvement in a collaborative project with the United Nations' Future Earth network to develop a Sustainable Financial and Economic System Knowledge-to-Action Network (SFES-KAN). The definition of 'sustainable' in this context includes disaster risk management. The SFES-KAN aims to align the current financial system with the UN's sustainable development goals by identifying research gaps and facilitating interdisciplinary research between academics, practitioners, and policymakers to fill those gaps. Our research on such topics as risk management and sustainable investing for the SFES-KAN project has translated into research on disaster risk management and has led to curriculum development on these topics. The goal of our paper is to provide other institutions with examples and strategic information on how to translate such interdisciplinary and solution-oriented sustainability research into research and curricula on disaster risk management.

Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease caused by Plasmodium parasites transmitted by the infectious bite of Anopheles mosquitoes. Vector control of malaria has predominantly focused on targeting the adult mosquito through insecticides and bed nets. However, current vector control methods are often not sustainable for long periods so alternative methods are needed. A novel biocontrol approach for mosquito-borne diseases has recently been proposed, it uses maternally inherited endosymbiotic Wolbachia bacteria transinfected into mosquitoes in order to interfere with pathogen transmission. Transinfected Wolbachia strains in Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, the primary vector of dengue fever, directly inhibit pathogen replication, including Plasmodium gallinaceum, and also affect mosquito reproduction to allow Wolbachia to spread through mosquito populations. In addition, transient Wolbachia infections in Anopheles gambiae significantly reduce Plasmodium levels. Here we review the prospects of using a Wolbachia-based approach to reduce human malaria transmission through transinfection of Anopheles mosquitoes.