Kate is a Lecturer in Climate Risk and Resilience at the University of Edinburgh and joined the ECCI team in August 2020. She is Deputy Programme Director for the MSc in Carbon Management. As Co-Director Kate aims to enable effective collaboration across the science-policy-practitioner interface for effective climate change adaptation and resilience.
Kate has worked as an applied researcher, project manager and practitioner in Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and Climate Change Adaptation (CCA). Prior to working at the University of Edinburgh she was a Hazard and Risk Engineer at the National Water and Atmospheric Research Institute (NIWA), New Zealand. There she co-managed a national risk tool projects and led an international development project on adapting risk assessment tools for the Pacific Island Countries. Previously, Kate worked as a DRR Adviser for an international NGO called CAFOD. She completed a PhD at the University of Plymouth examining cultural vulnerability and post-doctoral research at Oxford University on flood science knowledge exchange.
Her research interests cover a range of DRR and CCA topics including risk assessment methods and tools for decision makers; disasters and culture; indigenous knowledge; social vulnerability and capacity; Resilience frameworks/measurement; science communication and knowledge exchange.