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Prize-winning student dissertations and research focusing on future leaders and influencers in the humanitarian and disaster risk reduction sphere.
Publications by taught students
- Khonsa Indana Zulfa (Risk, Disaster and Resilience MSc, 2022)
By Khonsa Indana Zulfa, Joanna Faure Walker (MSc Independent Project Supervisor) and Rebekah Yore
Larger households, renting or sharing a dwelling, and less knowledge of evacuation routes and shelters were found to decrease the likelihood of household evacuation during the extreme floods of January 2021 and the more typical floods of December 2021 in South Kalimantan, Indonesia. Khonsa Zulfa led project conceptualisation, data collection, analysis and paper writing.
- Richard Lines (Risk, Disaster and Resilience MSc, 2019)
By Richard Lines, Joanna Faure Walker (MSc Independent Project Supervisor) and Rebekah Yore
Following the August 2018 Lombok earthquake, shelter and housing vulnerability evolution was marginally affected by household wealth, proximity to a regency centre, being in an urban location or receiving additional aid in the first few months, but less influential after the initial four months. Richard Lines led project conceptualisation, data collection, analysis and paper writing.
- Angus Naylor (Risk, Disaster and Resilience MSc, 2015)
By Angus Naylor, Joanna Faure Walker (MSc Independent Project Supervisor) and Anawat Suppasri
Following the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami, temporary housing complex residents revealed radio, siren, and AMP notifications were most effective for warning the elderly, and housing concerns were lack of space and privacy, poor thermal insulation, and solitary living environments. Angus Naylor analysed data collected by UCL RDR and Tohoku University IRIDeS staff and led the writing. The project was designed by Prof Faure Walker. Following his master's at RDR, Angus completed a PhD at the University of Leeds and then a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Victoria, Canada.
- Emma Pearlstone (Risk, Disaster and Resilience MSc, 2023)
Perceptions of Warning Information Sources From a Global Dataset
Emma Pearlstone was invited to present her master's research project, supervised by Dr Sarah Dryhurst, at the International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM) USA Virtual Conference in May 2025 alongside Dr George Karagiannis (International Coalition of Sustainable Infrastructure – ICSI). The project leverages the Lloyd's Register Foundation's World Risk Pool data.
PhD theses
- 2020 – 2024
- McMillan, Lauren; (2024) Artificial Intelligence–enabled self-healing infrastructure systems. Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).
- Harris, Myles; (2024) Prolonged field care: a grounded theory of mitigating risks to health in remote environments. Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).
- Vanderpuye, Melodie Rose-Teres; (2023) Investigating Spatio-Temporal Randomness of Large Earthquakes. Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).
- Almehmadi, Mater Matar; (2023) A Mixed-Methods Study to Investigate the Awareness by Pilgrims and the Saudi Authorities of Health Risks Arising From the Hajj Pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia. Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).
- Al Zaabi, Saqar Obaid Mohammed; (2023) Organisational Learning and Dynamics of Institutional Change Following Large-Scale Emergencies: Oman’s Emergency Management System as a Case Study. Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).
- Sgambato, Claudia; (2022) Variations in fault parameters and seismic hazard in the Central and Southern Italian Apennines. Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).
- Velázquez Ortíz, Omar Alejandro; (2021) Investigating the cross-disciplinary components of earthquake early warning systems. Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).
- Tabassum, Tasnuva; (2020) Earthquake Forecasting under Short Term Aftershock Incompleteness. Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).
- 2015 – 2019
- O'Connor, Aeron; (2019) Pursuing the Intellectual: Changing Conditions of Cultural Production in Dushanbe, Tajikistan. Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).
- Pescaroli, Gianluca; (2018) Improving operational resilience in the face of cascading disasters. Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).
- Stavrianaki, K; (2018) The clustering of earthquake magnitudes: from laboratory fracture to earth scale. Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).
- Mildon, ZK; (2017) The link between earthquakes and structural geology; the role of elapsed time, 3D geometry and stress transfer in the central Apennines, Italy. Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).
- Ahmed, Bayes; (2017) Community Vulnerability to Landslides in Bangladesh. Doctoral thesis, UCL (University College London).
- Wedmore, LNJ; (2017) Fault interaction processes and continental extension in the central Apennines, Italy. Doctoral thesis, UCL (University College London).
- Tilling, RL; (2016) New observations of Arctic sea ice from satellite radar altimetry. Doctoral thesis, UCL (University College London).
- Cartwright-Taylor, ALG; (2015) Deformation-Induced Electric Currents in Marble Under Simulated Crustal Conditions: Non-Extensivity, Superstatistical Dynamics and Implications for Earthquake Hazard. Doctoral thesis, UCL (University College London).
Master's Students' Research Briefings
Our Master's students undertake research as part of their programmes and these briefings give an insight into the variety of areas explored.
“Solidarity Not Charity”. Modelling the Emergence of Mutual Aid Groups in London (UK) during the 2020 Covid-19 Pandemic
Joshua Anthony, Risk and Disaster Science MSc (2020)
The emergence of localised community-led “Mutual Aid” groups has proven a valuable asset in the emergency response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Even though such emergent groups of citizens are commonly seen in disasters, emergency plans rarely make provisions for including them. With the intention of aiding emergency planning, this research report builds a model of the Emergent Mutual Aid Facebook Group using socio-economic population data, structured questionnaire responses and information collected from Facebook group pages.
Racha Doumit wins UCL MAPS 2023 Postgraduate (MSc) Innovation & Enterprise Competition
“To me, August 4 was an eerie near miss, one that often left me pondering “What if?”. For the past three years, my reasoning dragged me into downward spirals, imagining the worst possible scenarios. This study was the first time I thought of the blast in an upward manner. My question turned into: “What if we could do things differently?”