Researcher biography
Qualifications:
Bachelor of Environmental Management (Hons Sustainable Development)
Project title:
Responding to the mental and emotional toll of disasters: Stories from Australia and Vanuatu
Project description:
The overarching aim of this PhD is to explore how people are experiencing and working through mental and emotional loss and grief as a result of climate change. Two case studies are used for this research, the 2022 floods in Lismore, Australia and the 2020 Category 5 Tropical Cyclone Harold in Luganville, Vanuatu. There is limited in-depth understanding of the mental and emotional wellbeing impacts and the ways individuals and communities are recovering from these disaster events. This PhD aims to address these gaps. In doing so, this study intends to build a praxis to work through loss and to support healing and hope.
Funding:
Australian Research Council Future Fellowship, ‘Working through loss from climate change in the Pacific Islands’ (FT190100114).
Advisors/supervisors:
Professor Karen E. McNamara - The University of Queensland, Australia; Associate Professor Sonja Ayeb-Karlsson - University College London, England.