The Central Otago and Queenstown Lakes districts have been identified as having high wildfire risk, and they also have rapidly growing residential areas at the rural-urban fringe. The Mt Iron suburb at the edge of Wānaka exemplifies many of the issues of concern. More than 250 homes are built among highly flammable native kānuka vegetation. […]
Jenny Stein
Student Profile: Brenda Contla Hernandez
Statistically plausible eruption scenarios determined from geochemical data I’m from Mexico where I lived close enough to Popocatepetl to see it in action, which made me fascinated about volcanoes. I studied a Bachelor’s Degree in Actuarial Science at University La Salle in Mexico City and a Master’s Degree in Statistics at Massey University, New Zealand. […]
Student Profile: Cristhian David Prieto
Empirical essays on the impacts of climate hazards on households’ well-being and firms’ financial performance: Evidence from New Zealand and Colombia Hey there! I’m Cristhian, originally from the vibrant city of Bogotá, Colombia. I’ve got a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Economics, with a special emphasis in Econometrics. Yep, I’m all about crunching numbers and […]
Student Profile: Thivanka Dharmasena
Resilience of Water Sensitive Design Assets in Urban Environments Against Urban Flooding and Climate Change Kia Ora! I am a 3rd year PhD student at the University of Auckland with a focus on urban flood resilience. My engagement towards this field first started when I graduated from Deakin University (Australia) with my Bachelor’s Degree and […]
Community spirit key to faster flood recovery
The impacts of Cyclones Hale and Gabrielle caught many communities off guard, but for some these were just the latest in a series of extreme weather events that have caused landslides and floodwaters to inundate their roads, businesses, and homes. “Many people are still recovering,” says Anna-Kay Spaulding Agbenyegah, a PhD candidate at Massey University […]
A Decade of Dynamic Adaptive Decision-making tools in Aotearoa New Zealand
Practice applications, lessons learned and next steps By Dr Judy Lawrence In early March, as impacted North Island communities and emergency responders cleaned up following the devastation of Cyclone Gabrielle, a symposium in Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington marked 10 years since New Zealand introduced adaptive pathways planning approaches for addressing the reality of climate change. The […]
Student Profile: Pip Tildesley
Geochronology and petrogenesis of peralkaline volcano Tūhua, Aotearoa New Zealand I studied geology at the University of St Andrews, Scotland where I developed a love for all things rocks. I was fascinated by the stories you could tell from the scale of a thin section to a map. After graduating, I worked in Scotland as […]
Student Profile: Jade Humphrey
Fault Interactions in Central New Zealand Kia ora! I grew up in a small town called Wainuiomata, which is just outside of Wellington. Surrounded by hills coated in native lowland forests and frequently rocked by earthquakes, my childhood was filled with questions about how the world worked. At school we had earthquake drills and learnt […]
Student Profile: Logan Brunner
Understanding cascading impacts in our interdependent infrastructure Kia ora! I was born in Colorado, USA, and grew up around the beautiful rivers and hills of Jefferson City, Missouri. I moved to Baltimore on the East Coast of the US for my Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees at Johns Hopkins University, where I studied Environmental Engineering with […]
Student Profile: Mui Nguyen
Past experience of drought, drought risk perception, and climate mitigation and adaptation decisions I am originally from Vietnam, in the northern part which is near the beaches. During my undergraduate degree, I studied Economics at Vietnam National University which increased my interest in economics and research in the next steps in my career. I continued […]
World-leading experiment into pyroclastic flows
Pyroclastic Density Currents (PDCs) are ground-hugging clouds of super-heated volcanic ash, rock and gas that have a reputation for destroying everything in their path. Ranging from particle-dominated flows through to gas-dominated surges, PDC’s can be triggered by a range of volcanic events—not just large eruptions—and are responsible for more than a third of all volcano-related […]
Ensuring access to needle exchange services in disasters
By Caitlin Carew When we think of essential services during a disaster, things like clean water, food, medicines and emergency shelter come to mind. But for a group of people who can often be relegated to the margins of society, continued access to needle exchange services is essential for their health and wellbeing. […]
Student Profile: Felipe Kuncar
Modelling Local Site Effects in Physics-Based Earthquake Ground-Motion Simulations I was born in Valdivia (Chile) – the city that gives its name to the most powerful earthquake ever recorded (a magnitude 9.5!). I grew up in Chiloé, a beautiful island in southern Chile. Perhaps these two facts were an indication that I would end up […]
Student Profile: Brian Perttu
Multihazard volcanic analysis for Mt. Ruapehu, New Zealand I did my undergraduate degree at Western Washington University and my Master’s degree in Economic Geology at University of Alaska Fairbanks. I’ve worked at remote/fly-in mines in Nevada and Alaska, as a claim-staker for gold, uranium, and bentonite, done a research cruise on the Arctic Ocean, field […]
Student Profile: Anna Perttu
Seismo-acoustic characterisations of pyroclastic density currents I am originally from the Pacific Northwest and grew up between volcanoes and an accretionary wedge. At a young age I learned about the eruption of Mount St. Helens and was in awe of the impact on the surrounding area, especially the pyroclastic density current and landslide. I began […]
Student Profile: Geoffrey (Jeff) Robert
The interaction of Pyroclastic Density Currents with water bodies – A large scale experimental approach I am a French student originally coming from the outskirts of Paris. I have studied mostly geology, geochemistry, and volcanology during my undergraduate degree, for 3 years at La Sorbonne Faculté des Sciences (Sciences Faculty). I learned a lot about […]
Student Profile: Maryam Tagharobi
Statistical methods for multi-impact operability modelling I am Maryam Tagharobi, from Iran. I was born in 1984. I received my B.Sc. in Statistics at Shahid Chamran University, Iran, and my M.Sc. in Social and Economic Statistics at Allameh Tabataba’i University, Iran. I have taught as a lecturer at the University of Jundi-Shapur (the oldest university […]
Student Profile: Sarah Willette
Kia ora! I’m originally from the USA. I was born in the Dallas suburb of Plano, Texas and raised at the base of the beautiful Rocky Mountain foothills in Boulder, Colorado. I earned my BA degree at a small liberal arts school (Oberlin College), where I also had the privilege of playing NCAA women’s football […]
Relationships key to tsunami preparedness
On Friday 5 March 2021, communities across the North Island were shaken awake by a M7.3 earthquake located 175km offshore, northeast of Gisborne. It was the first of three large earthquakes along the Kermadec Trench that morning, generating a series of overlapping tsunami that would arrive in New Zealand within hours and continue to generate […]
Student Profile: Amin Ghasemi
Regional Seismic Risk Analysis of Wellington Building Inventory I don’t remember how I decided to become a civil engineer, but I cannot love anything more than civil engineering to dig into right now. Dealing with the most challenging problems to have better places for living enthused me to pursue earthquake engineering for post-graduate studies. I […]