Through this section on understanding culture, we highlighted the following points:

• Culture can affect risk, by either increasing or decreasing the vulnerability of individuals to natural hazards. 
• We are all part of and affected by culture, and this can shape the way in which we approach ideas, carry out activities, and form partnerships. Being aware of our own cultural identity (and positionality) and how they may differ from those of the communities we are working with, is key to developing cultural awareness and improving our approach to research and community engagement. 
• There are many ways to acquire a better understanding of unfamiliar culture including forming effective partnerships, getting to know your stakeholders, working with experts in the social sciences, arts and humanities, identifying existing ethnographic knowledge in publications and reports, participating in training courses, and engaging the community in the research project (e.g., citizen science).
• Understanding the culture of the communities we work with can help to enrich data collected, and inform the way we form and share research outputs with at-risk communities.

The following recommendations or suggested actions may be relevant in your work context:

• When developing research partnerships, natural hazard scientists should consider including those with ethnographic training (e.g. geographers, historians, and anthropologists), or identify existing and relevant ethnographic knowledge in publications and reports.
• When planning research dissemination strategies, public outreach, and hazard education initiatives, in addition to their partners and stakeholders, natural hazard scientists could consult literature, historians, anthropologists to understand cultural constraints, challenges, and opportunities.
• Train natural hazard scientists to understand and reflect on their own positionality, providing them with the skills to understand how their belief systems may influence their work.

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