'Natural' disasters are set to become one of the key challenges confronting governments and communities in the decades ahead as climate change, the number of people living in hazard-prone (especially coastal) locations, and the sheer density of the urban fabric increase the potential for loss from natural hazards. Societies in the past were also severely tested by disasters, however, often to the limits of their endurance. Some cultures proved more resilient and overcame these tribulations; others showed less flexibility and failed. What makes any society vulnerable or resilient in the present is in part an historical question, and understanding how different cultures at different times were able to prepare for, mitigate, manage and recover from such events provides useful lessons for disaster risk managers today. A key aim of this network is to explore how to incorporate the distinctive cultural and temporal insights that history and the humanities more broadly can contribute to DRR. Steps towards collaborative approaches to integrated hazard research are currently emerging through the development of historical databases such as ACRE and the Global Historical Earthquake Catalogue, but there has not yet been a comprehensive conversation to enhance communication between historians, natural scientists and disaster specialists, identify common areas of concern, and frame research questions and methodologies to address them. RHDC is structured to build towards such a conversation. It encourages an interdisciplinary dialogue to identify a) what special input history and the humanities can make to DRR; b) the optimal ways in which our disciplines can collaborate; and c) the practical contribution such an interdisciplinary (but humanities-led) approach can make to disaster risk management today. To this end, we plan to hold a series of themed workshops, each of which will focus on a pressing issue in DRR studies that will enable participants to share perspectives, create a common framework for cooperation, and provide guidance on how such an integrated approach might be better incorporated into disaster risk management. Selected contributions from the workshops will be published in a special edition of an interdisciplinary peer-reviewed journal such as Disasters or Global Environmental Change. We will engage non-academic audiences via the participation of organisations such as AXA and CAFOD in our workshops, by producing working papers intended for the research community and stakeholders outside academe which we will publish open-access on the network website, and by maintaining a blog to keep network participants and the wider public informed about RHDC events, and provide commentary on past and contemporary natural disasters. We will also hold public-facing events including a public lecture hosted by the University of Bristol's Cabot Institute and a historians and scientists 'in conversation' evening hosted by the University of Oxford. The network will benefit a wide range of academic and non-academic stakeholders. It brings together participants with diverse interests and experience who seek common ground in disaster research through integrating methodologies, sharing data, and identifying critical shared questions. As an outcome of establishing strong interdisciplinary connections, it is anticipated that the network will lead to one or more applications for major collaborative research funding.