A conference session on “Networking to promote disaster risk reduction” was organized by the GADRI Committee on Networking during the 6th Global Summit of GADRI held in March 2023 in Kyoto. The session sought to explore communication and exchanges to promote disaster research, resilience and risk reduction, specifically three key questions: (1) How can we foster exchange between individual GADRI researchers? (2) Which stakeholders should GADRI be networking with? And (3) How would GADRI approach networking with multitude of DRR consumers? These questions were addressed both broadly and with a focus on how networking might be facilitated within GADRI as well as between GADRI and the many other existing networks at regional and global scale working in the risk and disaster field. Four speakers from diverse backgrounds were invited to the panel discussion session which was held in a “world café” style – which involved an ad hoc organizing of participants into small groups and moving around in musical-chairs manner to deepen discussions on the presentations by the speakers. The speakers covered included how to enhance local innovation with other international and regional entities; the importance/tips of “story telling” to improve networking; the system of bringing together industry and academia employed in the US, citing an Industry-University Cooperative Research Center as a good practice; and the status of an ongoing database project to collect information on disasters, together with the project to link institutions and researchers, which will contribute to the research activities of the GADRI community. Discussion in both small groups and plenary followed the presentations, resulting in the following three recommendations for improving disaster-related networking: (1). GADRI should create a Global Disaster Researcher Directory, structured as a voluntary compilation of individuals engaged in disaster research, channeled through GADRI member institutes, perhaps building on ORCID IDs. (2) GADRI should develop a strong social media presence (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Linked-in, YouTube). Each platform requires different approach. YouTube allows the use of GADRI lectures and more detailed lengthier presentations appropriate to academic audiences and can be foundational for all 5 platforms. (3). GADRI should create GADRI Fellow and Young Researcher Programs.