Muh Aris Marfai

Co-Investigator

Professor, Geography & Head, Geospatial Information Agency

Faculty of Geography

Universitas Gadjah Mada

Aris is a Professor of Geography at the Universitas Gadjah Mada and the coordinator of the Indonesian geomorphological group. He is also head of the Indonesian Geospatial Information Agency. As the Lead Indonesian Co-Investigator for Retreating from Risk, Aris has over 15 years of experience working on coastal geomorphology, coastal community resilience, and ecosystem based disaster risk reduction. 

Aris is an active member of the Centers for Natural Resources and Development, a worldwide university network promoting academic exchange and cooperation in natural resources management, in particular related to water, land, ecosystem, and renewable energy resources. In 2015, he was appointed as one of the Climate Change Expert Team members in the City Links Climate Adaptation Partnership Program (Semarang, Indonesia-Gold Coast Australia), a program of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). In 2017, Aris became a reviewer for the Centers for Collaboration Research Program: The Sustainable Higher Education Research Alliances (USAID SHERA), in collaboration with the USAID and Indonesia’s Ministry of Research, Technology and Higher Education. In 2020,  he was appointed to a scientific council for integrated water resources management in the Joint Funding Scheme EU-Southeast Asia, Indonesian Science Fund (DIPI).

ARis has been engaged in numerous joint initiatives including the Community Resilience and Economic Development Program (2015-2018), funded by the New Zealand Aids, and the “Development of Climate Adaptation Tools: Towards Cities Resilient in Java Island, Indonesia” project (2017-2019), a National Geographic Foundation for Science and Exploration Program. He has published 310 publications and supervised 175 students.

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