Our People

Andrew is the CEO of Natural Hazards Research Australia. He works with government, business and not-for-profits to make our communities safer and more resilient.

Andrew has over 25 years disaster management experience, including in senior executive roles. He previously held the position of Deputy Chief Officer / Director Emergency Management and Communication with the Victoria State Emergency Service and, before joining Natural Hazards Research Australia was a General Manager at Risk Frontiers.

Andrew holds Masters (Hons) of Science and Bachelor of Economics degrees and has published in leading international journals.

Chris Zevenbergen is Distinguished Professor at Chulalongkorn University, Emeritus Professor at TU Delft and IHE Delft (from July 2025), and Visiting Professor at Southeast University (SEU), China (since 2016). He is an internationally recognized expert in climate resilience, urban flood risk management, and water-sensitive urban development.

Over a career spanning more than four decades, he has advanced innovative approaches to building resilient deltas, cities, and communities facing climate change, flooding, and environmental pressures. His work spans both Europe and the Global South, with a strong focus on translating resilience science into practical solutions across diverse socio-economic and environmental contexts. His research focuses on integrated flood resilience strategies, flood-proof building designs and technologies, adaptive urban planning, and decision-support tools for resilient infrastructure development.

Combining engineering and design expertise with ecological, socio-economic, and institutional perspectives, he promotes holistic solutions that strengthen the capacity of urban and delta systems to anticipate, withstand, and recover from climate-related risks. He has published more than 200 scientific publications.

Fatemeh Jalayer is a professor in Geophysical Hazard Risks at the Institute for Risk and Disaster Reduction. Her research focuses on probabilistic methods and computational tools for risk modelling and disaster risk reduction. She is interested in numerical modelling of cascading phenomena and multi-risk assessment, involving treatment of uncertainties and consideration of time-dependent factors and drivers. She is increasingly interested in risk modelling considering the societal context and the complex interactions between human, nature, and the built environment.

Fatemeh holds a PhD from Stanford University, where her pioneering work in probabilistic seismic risk assessment contributed to the probabilistic basis of the SAC/FEMA seismic design guidelines and earned her the 2003 ASCE Norman Medal. She is currently Coordinator of the European Tsunami Risk Service (ETRiS) and Chair of the European Facilities for Earthquake Hazard and Risk (EFEHR), and is internationally recognized for probabilistic risk modelling, uncertainty analysis, multi-hazard assessment and disaster resilience.

Mr. Scott founded and directed the Center for Public Service Communications to provide guidance to communities and public organizations to improve health services to underserved communities and improve the collection and sharing of scientific, technical and community knowledge to reduce human vulnerability to natural hazards.

Mr. Scott coordinated initiatives to engage indigenous peoples in disaster risk reduction on behalf of several United Nations agencies. He was principal author on the topic for the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues as well as the United Nations Commission on Human Right on the promotion and protection of the rights of indigenous peoples in disaster risk reduction, prevention and preparedness. He was also executive director of the National Congress of American Indians President’s Task Force on Health Information and Technology.

Mr. Scott is Tlingit, and a member of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska.

Dr. Lily Yumagulova has lived experience and professional experience with disasters and displacement. Her academic background includes emergency management, risk analysis, and a PhD in planning for disaster resilience.

Professionally, Lily brings over 20 years of experience in government, NGOs, media, Indigenous communities, and international organizations in Europe and North America.

In Canada, she is the Program Director for the Preparing Our Home Program which empowers Indigenous youth leadership in community resilience. Lily’s current research focuses on Indigenous self-determination in disaster risk reduction and planned relocation.

Lisa Gibbs is a Professor of Public Health at The University of Melbourne. Her research focuses on disaster recovery and resilience particularly relating to the interplay between individual and community level outcomes. Major studies under her leadership include the 10 years Beyond Bushfires study and the multi-award winning Recovery Capitals project which was led in partnership with Red Cross and Massey University.

Her disaster research programs have contributed new knowledge about the long term impacts of disasters on mental health and wellbeing and on student learning, and have identified opportunities to support recovery and resilience. Her research and related practical resources directly influence service and policy decision making in Australia and internationally through cross-sectoral partnerships with community, service provider and government representatives and disaster networks.

Professor Richard Dawson FREng is Dean of Research and Innovation at Newcastle University. Richard’s research focuses on understanding and managing climate and environmental risks to cities and infrastructure – for which he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 2023.

He served on the UK’s Committee on Climate Change from 2019-2025, was a Lead Author of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s 6th Assessment Report, and is currently a member of the Science and Technology Advisory Council for DESNZ (Department of Energy Security and Net Zero).

Rosita Jünemann is an Associate Professor in the Department of Structural and Geotechnical Engineering at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and Director of CIGIDEN R+, the Center for Interdisciplinary Research on Disaster Risk, Resilience and Recovery.

Her research focuses on earthquake engineering, nonlinear structural analysis, and seismic and tsunami risk assessment of the built environment. She has worked extensively on the performance of reinforced concrete wall buildings during strong earthquakes, combining post-earthquake observations, numerical modeling, fragility analysis, and collapse assessment.

Her recent work extends these approaches to multi-hazard contexts, including sequential earthquake–tsunami loading, urban-scale exposure and vulnerability modeling, and risk-informed tools for coastal cities. She leads interdisciplinary research that connects structural engineering, hazard assessment, and disaster risk management to support evidence-based decisions for safer and more resilient communities.

Dr. Tetsuya Takeda is a Principal Researcher at the National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Resilience (NIED), Japan. He received his Ph.D. in Earth and Planetary Science from the University of Tokyo.

He currently serves as Group Head of the Marine Earthquake and Tsunami Observation Group. He played a key role in the development of the Nankai Trough Seafloor Earthquake and Tsunami Observation Network (N-net), which was completed in 2025. N-net monitors the offshore source region of the Nankai Trough, a major subduction zone off southwestern Japan where great earthquakes and tsunamis have repeatedly occurred.

His research focuses on observational seismology, particularly crustal and plate structures, active faults, and earthquake and tsunami hazards associated with subduction zones. Through the development and operation of seafloor observation networks, he aims to improve real-time monitoring capabilities and contribute to disaster risk reduction.