Dr Emma Singh

Through her PhD study, Dr Emma Singh combined natural hazard modelling and geographic information system (GIS) analysis with graph theory tools to provide a better understanding of the impacts of lifeline failure during natural hazard events and assess the usefulness of graph theory techniques in aiding disaster mitigation, emergency response and community recovery. Focusing on the exposure of road networks to volcanic ash from a future eruption at Mount Fuji in Japan, Emma worked with local governments in Japan to understand better how ash-induced road closures can impact evacuation plans and community recovery post-eruption. The methods that Emma developed can be applied to any natural hazard or lifeline network to identify at-risk critical infrastructure and determining the potential disruption caused by service failure.

Governments, emergency management agencies and communities can all benefit from Emma’s findings.

Emma was an active communicator about her research findings during her PhD. She presented her research findings at the CRC’s Research Forum in 2014 and 2015, as well as at international volcanology conferences in the United States and Italy, and blogged about her research trips to New Zealand, Japan, Mount St Helens and Yellowstone National Park in the United States, and Mount Vesuvius in Italy. Her research findings feature in Hazard Note 66 – Can graph theory help prepare for lifeline failure during a disaster?, which shows how graph theory techniques can be applied to aide disaster mitigation, emergency response and community recovery.

Emma also made it to the Macquarie University Three Minutes Thesis finals in 2015 and was voted People’s Choice winner. Emma credited her CRC speaker training with helping her communicate her research.

“I don’t think I would have had the confidence to do the Macquarie University 3MT competition if I had not presented in a similar format at the CRC and AFAC conference – the training from the CRC really helped me create a good three minute script,” Emma said.

Emma also credits her ties with the CRC for her ability to translate academic learning into usable outputs for end-users and her passion for interagency collaboration.

Emma currently lives in London and is a Senior Associate Catastrophe and Climate Risk Consultant at Willis Towers Watson.