Raised on a farm in Denmark and educated in the UK and Australia, I am driven by a curiosity about local environmental knowledge and the societal coping capacities generated by it. My work builds on two decades of social science research, with case studies spanning Australia, North America, Europe, and Africa. My research focuses on social dimensions of disasters, particularly people’s ability to coexist with wildfire. It considers broader contexts, such as cultural norms, political agendas, climate change, and environmental history.
I completed my PhD and then worked as a social scientist at the University of Wollongong, Australia from 2007-2020. I then relocated to Switzerland to work as a senior researcher in the Center for Security Studies at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zürich) from 2020-2023. In August 2023, I commenced a five-year research professorship funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation at the University of Bern, which focuses on building community resilience to wildfires in Europe.
By bringing natural hazards into dialogue with human and social geography, I have gained international recognition as a ground-breaking disaster researcher. As the author of two books and over one hundred other publications, and with extensive outrearch, public speaking, and teaching experience, my track-record demonstrates a long-standing commitment to qualitative research that is in-depth, applied, collaborative, and interdisciplinary.
For further details about my work, please visit my personal website.
