Introduction
Emma is a human geographer specialising in disaster risk reduction (DRR), vulnerability, resilience and transforming risk responses. Her research examines the complex set of contextual factors that impede and/or improve resilience and vulnerability levels to risk with a regional focus on South-East Asia and Australia and the South Pacific. Her research career began looking at the vulnerability and resilience of tourism destinations to natural hazards. However, the last several years has seen her focus shift to disability and disasters. Taking a systems approach, her current work explores two fundamental questions designed to advance inclusion in the disaster space: 1) what does inclusion means in the context of DRR and 2) what steps - including knowledge generation and sharing, processes and practices - are needed to make DiDRR a lived reality.
Expert
I am a human geographer specialising in disaster risk reduction (DRR), vulnerability, resilience and transforming risk responses. My research is highly applied and examines the complex set of contextual factors that impede and/or improve resilience and vulnerability levels to risk with a regional focus on South-East Asia and Australia and the South Pacific. For the last 8 years, my research has focussed on improving the inclusion of persons with disabilities and other minorities in DRR practices.
The work I have undertaken has had major national and international impact with end-users directly benefitting from and taking up my research and capacity building outputs. Below is summary of how my disability-inclusive DRR (DiDRR) projects build upon each other to form a clear trajectory of positive application and impact in Australia and internationally:
1. Increasing the resilience of the Deaf Community in New South Wales (NSW) to Natural Hazards Project funded by the Australian National Disaster Resilience Program (2011-2013) was a research project focussed on identifying the needs of culturally Deaf people in responding to hazards in NSW, Australia and community-driven solutions to match these needs.
2. Get Ready Project funded by the New South Wales and Australian Federal Government via the Community Resilience Innovation Program (2014-2016) implemented key recommendations from the aforementioned Deaf NSW research project.
3. Disability and Disasters: Empowering people and building resilience to risk project funded by the Global Resilience Partnership (2016-2017) expanded upon the preceding projects. Taking a systems approach (with multiple and interlinked actions on increasing knowledge and skills, changing attitudes and beliefs about PWD's capabilities in the DRR space and supporting inclusive governance), this project has increased the resilience of c. 22,000 people with disabilities (PWDs) in SE Asia (specifically Thailand, Cambodia and the Philippines) to hazard risk by strengthening the voices of PWDs and working with them to secure the institutional and social support they need to respond effectively to hazards and disasters and to be champions of resilience and change. This innovative project has been nominated for the United Nations 2019 Sasakawa Award and is in the process of being upscaled in Asia-Pacific in partnership with UNDP and A2R.
Fields of expertise: Culture, Disability, Environmental policy / climate change, Evidence for policy / knowledge valorization, Inclusive social development / inclusive societies / social inclusion, Policy design and delivery, Reduction of inequalities / equity / poverty eradication, Social change / social transformations, Social innovation / public sector innovation / policy innovation