Student Profile: Heiman Dianat
25/07/2018
Auckland resilience assesment
A bit about me
I was born and raised in Sanandaj, a beautiful city in the west of Iran. After completing my bachelor’s degree in civil engineering there, I started working in the construction industry. During this time I became interested and involved in few natural disasters, which lead me to choose to peruse my passion in disaster science. I completed a master’s in project management, which sparked my interest in PhD research.
Outside of my studies I have had a great time living in this beautiful country. I try to be out in nature as much as possible and I wouldn’t change a thing about it!
My project
I am doing my PhD at The University of Auckland under the supervision of Professor Suzanne Wilkinson. My doctoral work examines and tests the United Nations Disaster Resilience Scorecard and New Local Urban Indicators (LUI) for Auckland City. The research assesses Auckland’s disaster resilience based on the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction’s (UNISDR) Ten Essentials, helping to find the gaps, weakness, and strengths that currently exist. The results from my study will help Auckland Council to set priorities for investment and action, and provide a baseline to monitor and track the city’s resilience progress.
This research project is part of the Resilience to Nature’s Challenges Urban research programme. It is being done in collaboration with Auckland Civil Defence and Emergency Management (CDEM), The University of Auckland and the Centre for Disaster Resilience, Recovery, and Reconstruction (CDRRR).
This study is divided into two phases. So far, I have collected the data for the first phase, generated a report from analysis of this data and completed planning for the final phase.
Next steps
We are going to collect data for final phase of the study soon. It will be detailed assessment of Auckland city based on the UNISDR Scorecard. After collecting and analysing this data, I plan to submit my thesis, likely by the end of 2019.
