Building resilience to compound natural hazards

While natural hazards can be caused by a single variable being in an extreme state, such as extreme rainfall leading to a flash flood, such events are more typically the result of a complex interaction between several variables, either occurring in sequence or concurrently. The severity of the highest impact weather-related hazards, such as droughts, floods and storms, depend on how, when and where they combine and interact as well as the inter-relationships between these hazards and the conditions that cause and influence them. This combination of hazards is referred to as 'compound', or 'coincident', events.

This PhD, in collaboration with the University of Adelaide in Australia and Newcastle University in England, will explore these complex interdependent relationships between natural hazards. The project will merge climate, meteorological and hydrological sciences with engineering to address key questions such as what are the causes and interdependencies of various natural hazards, what are impacts of such events on the natural and build environments (i.e. energy generation, water management, humanitarian aid), and how such information can be integrated into hazard modelling, natural hazard risk assessments and forecast/warning systems to improve our ability to prepare for, and build resilience to, such events both now and in the future?