Dr Mitchell Scovell

Cyclones can cause significant damage to housing in high-risk areas and, due to a changing climate and increasing coastal population, the number of individuals vulnerable to property damage is likely to increase. Installing structural upgrades (e.g., cyclone shutters) can reduce this damage but the uptake of these upgrades in cyclone-prone regions has been relatively low. Mitchell Scovell’s project investigated the psychological factors that influence cyclone mitigation behaviour. His research focused on understanding the ways in which people perceive long-term cyclone risk and how people make decisions around installing structural upgrades. The findings can be used to inform risk communication messaging to promote mitigation behaviour in cyclone-prone regions.

Mitchell was an active communicator about his research throughout his PhD, winning the James Cook University Three Minute Thesis competition in 2018, and making the final of the Asia-Pacific competition. He also submitted a video for the Cooperative Research Centre Association’s Early Career Researcher communication competition in 2019. Mitchell is now a Postdoctoral Fellow at CSIRO.