Emma Singh

Dr Emma Singh

Completed PhD student
About
Dr Emma Singh

Through her PhD study, Dr Emma Singh combined natural hazard modelling and geographic information system (GIS) analysis with graph theory tools to provide a better understanding of the impacts of lifeline failure during natural hazard events and assess the usefulness of graph theory techniques in aiding disaster mitigation, emergency response and community recovery. Focusing on the exposure of road networks to volcanic ash from a future eruption at Mount Fuji in Japan, Emma worked with local governments in Japan to understand better how ash-induced road closures can impact evacuation plans and community recovery post-eruption. The methods that Emma developed can be applied to any natural hazard or lifeline network to identify at-risk critical infrastructure and determining the potential disruption caused by service failure.

Governments, emergency management agencies and communities can all benefit from Emma’s findings.

Emma was an active communicator about her research findings during her PhD. She presented her research findings at the CRC’s Research Forum in 2014 and 2015, as well as at international volcanology conferences in the United States and Italy, and blogged about her research trips to New Zealand, Japan, Mount St Helens and Yellowstone National Park in the United States, and Mount Vesuvius in Italy. Her research findings feature in Hazard Note 66 – Can graph theory help prepare for lifeline failure during a disaster?, which shows how graph theory techniques can be applied to aide disaster mitigation, emergency response and community recovery.

Emma also made it to the Macquarie University Three Minutes Thesis finals in 2015 and was voted People’s Choice winner. Emma credited her CRC speaker training with helping her communicate her research.

“I don’t think I would have had the confidence to do the Macquarie University 3MT competition if I had not presented in a similar format at the CRC and AFAC conference – the training from the CRC really helped me create a good three minute script,” Emma said.

Emma also credits her ties with the CRC for her ability to translate academic learning into usable outputs for end-users and her passion for interagency collaboration.

Emma currently lives in London and is a Senior Associate Catastrophe and Climate Risk Consultant at Willis Towers Watson.

Student project

This study combined natural hazard modelling and geographic information system (GIS) analysis with graph theory tools to provide a better understanding of the impacts of lifeline failure during natural hazard events and assess the usefulness of graph theory techniques in aiding disaster mitigation, emergency response and community recovery.
Supervisory panel:
Modelling the impact of lifeline infrastructure failure during natural hazard events
18 Sep 2018
How prepared are we for extensive lifeline failure, and can graph theory aid in disaster mitigation?
Disruption of critical infrastructure during natural disasters
29 Jun 2017
Can graph theory techniques help with emergency response and optimal lifeline network recovery?
Emma Singh Conference Poster 2016
12 Aug 2016
Can graph theory techniques help with emergency response and optimal lifeline network recovery?
Disruption of Critical Infrastructure during National Disasters
18 Aug 2015
To understand how components of our built environment and society will fare during a disaster,...
Disruption of critical infrastructure during prolonged natural disasters
25 Aug 2014
The project aims to qualify and quantify the impacts of prolonged and multi-hazard natural hazard...

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