A wave of PhD completions

Five Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC students successfully completed their PhDs in the last twelve months. Congratulations to all on their fantastic achievements, read more below.

Students who began their PhD as a CRC scholarship student and are still studying as of 2021 will transition to Natural Hazards Research Australia.

Dr Mayeda Rashid (CQUniversity)

Dr Mayeda Rashid’s PhD conducted rigorously designed research on disaster risk reduction education for children in Bangladesh by involving children’s active input and participation. Dr Rashid identified the specific elements of disaster risk reduction education programs for children that produce positive outcomes. Her study makes a significant contribution to the theoretical understanding of disaster risk reduction education for children by exploring its related challenges and achievements. It provides evidence for improvements in relevant policy and practice. The recommendations made by the child co-researchers can be used as guiding principles in the design and implementation of child-centred disaster risk reduction education programs in Bangladesh. Most importantly, by bringing children on board as co-researchers, Dr Rashid’s PhD provides a framework for engaging children in research on disasters. It therefore encourages future researchers to empower children as co-researchers and foster their genuine participation in research.

Dr Rashid’s thesis was ranked in the top 10 per cent globally in her field. As a result, she has been recognised as a Global Talent by the Department of Home Affairs under the Global Talent Independent program. She also received the 2020 Paul Anderson FAPEx Research Prize from CQUniversity, awarded to the student who achieves the highest result for their thesis in the academic year. Dr Rashid now works as Partnerships Coordinator at DPV Health for the Victorian Government’s Community Activation and Social Isolation program.

Find Dr Rashid’s thesis here.

Dr Susan Hunt (Australian National University)

Dr Susan Hunt’s research investigated good practice for disaster resilience policy implementation. She proposed a good practice framework with four broad policy domains and policy objectives that could be used to achieve successful implementation. The framework is based on a model of dynamic and networked adaptive capacities: social capital, community competence, economic development, and information and communication. The provisional framework was applied to five disaster resilience case studies: one at each level of government, one in the business sector and one in a not-for-profit organisation. This provided information about the extent that implementation of the five activities was being informed by disaster resilience policy objectives. It was found that the principal of subsidiarity, which is closely aligned with federalism, can account for the relative success of some implementation practices as well as explain how others could be improved. The application of subsidiarity as the guiding principle of governance in the Australian disaster management system would ensure power is shared effectively by regarding the need for capacity building, negotiated roles and responsibilities, unrestricted access to information, and effective coordination across the system.

After completing her PhD, Dr Hunt has been working as a private research consultant. She led research for the CRC, commissioned by the Yarra Ranges, Maroondah City and Knox City Councils to evaluate how Maroondah and Knox City Councils’ policies align with resilience.

Dr Hunt’s thesis is available here.

Dr Mitchell Scovell (James Cook University)

Dr Mitchell Scovell’s PhD project investigated the psychological factors that influence cyclone mitigation behaviour. His research focused on understanding the ways in which people perceive long-term cyclone risk and how people make decisions around installing structural upgrades. The findings can be used to inform risk communication messaging to promote mitigation behaviour in cyclone-prone regions.

Mitchell was an active communicator about his research throughout his PhD, winning the James Cook University Three Minute Thesis competition in 2018, and making the final of the Asia-Pacific competition. He also submitted a video for the Cooperative Research Centre Association’s Early Career Researcher communication competition in 2019. Mitchell is now a Postdoctoral Fellow at CSIRO.

Download Dr Scovell’s thesis here. Watch his Three Minute Thesis below. 

Dr Revathi Nuggehalli Krishna (Monash University)

With a background in clinical psychology, Dr Revathi Nuggehalli Krishna’s research explored how children and families living in poverty cope during natural hazards. With case studies in Australia and India, Dr Krishna looked at how both adaptive and maladaptive coping strategies will assist with lessons that can be translated into intervention efforts that builds resilience in coping with adversities like natural hazards. Prior to beginning her PhD, she led a clinical team for a large, randomised control study testing psychosocial intervention to treat perinatal depression in India. Dr Krishna is now a research fellow at Monash University’s Sustainable Development Institute.