Contact details

• Ph: +64 4 801 5799 ext 63617
  Location: 3C11, Block 3
  Campus: Wellington Campus

Qualifications

• Bachelor of Science with First Class Honours - University of Canterbury (1985)
• Doctor of Philosophy - University of Canterbury (1990)

Prizes and Awards

• Part of Massey University team that won the award for excellence in emergency management communications at the 2023 EMPA awards. - EMPA https://www.empa.org.au/ (2023)
• Joint Centre for Disaster Research won the 2019 Massey Team Research Medal - Massey University (2020)

Research Interests

My research interests include environmental health consequences of natural hazards and disasters; volcanic hazard impacts; volcanic ash chemistry; environmental, agricultural and health impacts of volcanic eruptions; developing volcanic ash hazard assessment methods; vulnerability of water and wastewater infrastructure to natural hazards and disasters. 

I also have a growing interest in the use of low-cost citizen science sensor technology and am in the process of setting up a network of low-cost air quality sensors with potential applications both in citizen science, and in rapid response to natural hazard events causing imapcts on air quality. I am affiliated with Crisis Lab, which is a new initiative within the Joint Centre for Disaster Research. 

Thematics

Health and Well-being

Area of Expertise

Field of research codes
Analytical Chemistry (030100): Chemical Science (030000):
Earth Sciences (040000):
Environmental and Occupational Health and Safety (111705):
Environmental Sciences (050000):
Medical And Health Sciences (110000):
Natural Hazards (040604): Physical Geography and Environmental Geoscience (040600):
Public Health and Health Services (111700):
Quality Assurance, Chemometrics, Traceability and Metrological Chemistry (030106)

Keywords

Environmental chemistry

Environmental health

Volcanic hazards

Water quality

Air quality

Water supply

Wastewater

Consultancy

• March 2018 - September 2018 - Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade
  Technical expertise in environmental health assessment provided to assist Government of Vanuatu following Ambae eruptions
• January 2016-February 2016 - Global Facility for Disaster Risk Reduction and Recovery
  Contracted by GFDRR (a partnership of the World Bank and UN) to provide technical content on volcanic hazards for ThinkHazard!, a new web-based tool.
• March 2014 - June 2015 - Environmental Protection Authority, Victoria, Australia
  Engaged to provide expert peer review services for environmental monitoring programme following coal mine fire.
• May 2003 - Tasman District Council
  Contracted to provide expert witness services in support of a RMA prosecution

Languages

• French
  Last used: 2018
  Spoken ability: Needs work
  Written ability: Needs work
• Spanish
  Last used: 2019
  Spoken ability: Needs work
  Written ability: Needs work

Current Doctoral Supervision

Co-supervisor of:

• Alfredo Jaramillo Velez - Doctor of Philosophy
  Using citizen science data as an approach to make low-cost and safe monitoring programmes in landslide zones: Cape Kidnappers and Taranaki North Cliffs case studies
• Richard Mowll - Doctor of Philosophy
  Infrastructure planning emergency levels of service for the Wellington region, Aotearoa New Zealand

Completed Doctoral Supervision

Co-supervisor of:

• 2021 - Hayley Squance - Doctor of Philosophy
  Enhancing Multiagency Collaboration in Animal Welfare Emergency Management