Heidi Chappelow’s research is focusing on implementing cultural change for practical and enduring disaster risk reduction. She was engaged to conduct a Sustainable Development Goal gap analysis for the Newcastle State Emergency Service unit and was engaged by Hunter Joint Organisation to evaluate the Australian Council of Social Services ‘Six Steps to Resilient Community Organisations’ toolkit.
Heidi has produced a five-year climate action strategy designed to leverage strength and develop new skills in policy, culture, practice and partnerships. She presented at the 2019 Australian and New Zealand Disaster and Emergency Management Conference on the Gold Coast and presented ‘Centralising environmental resilience in disaster risk reduction using the sustainable development goals’ at the AFAC19 conference, which was then published in the Australian Journal of Emergency Management Monograph series.
Heidi currently works as a disaster readiness community officer at Singleton Council in the Hunter Valley, connecting communities with emergency services and council to support disaster preparedness in suburban and rural neighbourhoods including business, local government and NGOs through asset-based community development. She is also
a social ecologist with Creative Human Initiatives and is collaborating with the National Bushfire Recovery Agency on establishing links between research and local government through forming a Hunter Recovery Research Network (working title).
