Profile

My research focusses on the processes of urban disaster risk creation and systemic implications of sustainability and resilience in the context of neoliberalism. My other research interests include narratives and framings of disasters, disaster risk management of cultural heritage, and the use of games in disaster risk reduction research. I have conducted research in the UK, India, Indonesia, Japan, Nepal, China, and the Caribbean, working with policymakers, non-governmental organisations, industry, and marginalised communities. I have conducted research in the UK, India, Indonesia, Japan, Nepal, China, the Caribbean, and across Europe. I have co-authored over 60 academic papers and book chapters, and I am a co-author of a textbook Disaster Risk Reduction for the Built Environment’ (Wiley, 2017) and Disaster Risk (Routledge, 2022). A core part of my activities is science communication: I am a co-host of a podcast ‘Disasters: Deconstructed’. I use my work to draw attention to the fact that disasters are not natural.

  • 2021 – 2022– Reader in Sustainable and Resilient Urbanism, Loughborough University, School of Architecture, Building and Civil Engineering
  • 2019 – 2021 – Senior Lecturer in Sustainable and Resilient Urbanism, Loughborough University, School of Architecture, Building and Civil Engineering
  • 2015 –2019Lecturer in Sustainable and Resilient Urbanism, Loughborough University, School of Architecture, Building and Civil Engineering
  • 2011-2015 Research Associate, Loughborough University, School of Civil and Building Engineering
  • 2011 - Research Assistant,University of Nottingham, Division of Energy and Sustainability
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Professional affiliations

  • 2024- current: Vice President of the International Association for Disaster Reduction and Emergency Management
  • 2025 – invited expert member of the ‘Behavioural Science Group’ for the Cabinet Office’s National Security Risk Assessment review.
  • 2020-current: Honorary Associate Professor, Institute of Risk and Disaster Reduction, UCL
  • 2018-2022 - Joint Coordinator of the International Council for Research and Innovation in Building and Construction’s Working Commission 120 ‘Disasters and the Built Environment’ (member for the W120 since 2016)
  • 2020-2022 - Member of the Words to Action Guide on ‘Using traditional knowledge for disaster risk reduction’ Expert Group, UNDRR and ICCROM
  • Member of the Methodology Advisory Group for the Global Network for Disaster Reduction’s Views from the Frontline project
  • Member of editorial board of Disaster Prevention and Management, Disasters, Jàmbá: Journal of Disaster Risk Studies 
  • Founding co-editor of the Disaster Studies Journal
  • Founding member of the CONVERGE COVID-19 Working Groups ‘Disaster Capitalism’, ‘Disaster Science, Humanities, and Media Outreach’, and ‘Prisons and Prisoners’
  • External examiner, MSc Disaster Management and Resilience course, Coventry University
  • Peer reviewer for the 2019 Global Report on Internal Displacement, Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre
  • Peer reviewer for the 2019 Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction, UNISDR
  • Awards
  • 2021 – publication included in the Disaster Prevention and Management 30th Anniversary Virtual issue as one of 11 seminal papers selected by the editorial board
  • 2019 Emerald Literati Award - Outstanding Reviewer for Disaster Prevention and Management: An International Journal
  • 2018 Teaching Innovation Award for a project ‘Disaster Risk Reduction is a child’s play: using modular construction toys to understand structural DRR measures’
  • Media appearances
  • Interview with Scott Knowles on COVID Calls, ‘Have we learnt from Covid? Implications for disaster research. 2 March 2022 https://covidcalls.podbean.com/e/ep-442-322022-discussing-building-back-better-is-neoliberal-post-disaster-reconstruction/
  • Interview with Lars Peter Nissen, Trumanitarian podcast, Ep.39 ‘Double Agents’, 11 Feb. 2022. https://trumanitarian.org/episodes/double-agents/
  • Feature article ‘Dr Ksenia Chmutina - The academic nomad who averts disasters’ in the Academic Woman Magazine, June-Sept. 2021, pp. 24-26
  • Interview with Kayla Hathaway, Disaster preparedness show, 25 April 2021.
  • Interview with Emma Vigeland and Scott Millican, The Ring of Fire radio show, 2nd of Feb. 2021, https://trofire.com/2021/02/08/the-history-behind-joe-bidens-build-back-better-slogan/
  • Interview with Scott Knowles on COVID Calls, ‘How Do We Talk about Disasters’ 24th of July 2020, https://youtu.be/oZ4Bh0ssvJY 
  • Interview with Doug Parsons (Cimpatico Studios), Season 1 Ep.2. ‘The Good, the bad and the ugly: the role of urban planning in disasters’
  • Interview with Doug Parson (Cimpatico Studios), Season 1 Ep.1 ‘Is nature really to blame for disasters?’
  • Narrator of the ICORP on the Road Episode 3 ‘They didn’t come for the lands’  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pgBp8_rK30
  • Quoted in the CNN article: https://edition.cnn.com/2018/10/10/health/sutter-natural-disaster-hurricane-michael/index.html
  • Key collaborators
  • My research and enterprise activities are conducted with a range of academic and stakeholder partners, including:
  • ICCROM
  • Save the Children
  • Practical Action
  • UNDRR
  • National Society for Earthquate Technology, Nepal
  • Universities of York, Bristol, Nottingham, UCL, Durham, King’s College London (UK)
  • University of Florida, USA
  • University of Auckland, New Zealand
  • University of Newcastle, Australia
  • North-West University, South Africa
  • Ritsumeikan University, Japan
  • Montreal University, Canada
  • Tsinghua University, China
  • Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Seoul;
  • University of the West Indies, Barbados, Trinidad, and Jamaica