This event is being organised and run by the ANU Disaster Risk Science Institute.

The concept of the Anthropocene is a useful rubric for examining the human alteration of the Earth’s basic natural systems and how society responds and adjusts to such changes in such fundamental and life-supporting systems. The focus of the talk is to focus on the changing nature of hazard and disaster risk from local to global scales and the increasing social, procedural, and spatial inequalities resulting from it.

Dr. Susan Cutter is a Carolina Distinguished Professor of Geography at the University of South Carolina and director of the Hazards and Vulnerability Research Institute and the IRDR Center of Excellence on Vulnerability and Resilience Metrics. She has authored or edited 15 books, 150+ plus peer-reviewed articles and book chapters, and mentored more than 60 masters and doctoral candidates. Her research focusses on vulnerability and resilience science with specific reference to methods, models, and metrics. Her scientific contributions include the hazards of place model of vulnerability, the disaster resilience of place model, as well as tools for assessing spatial and temporal variability in vulnerability (the Social Vulnerability Index or SoVI®) and the Baseline Resilience Indicators for Communities (BRIC) Index. Her policy-relevant work focuses on the evidentiary basis for emergency management and disaster recovery policy and practice at local, state, national, and international levels. In particular, she continues to lead investigations of the disproportionate spatial and temporal impacts of disasters on vulnerable populations and the places where they live. Dr. Cutter is an elected fellow of American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). She received an honorary doctorate from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (2015), and was elected as a foreign member of the Royal Norwegian Society of Sciences and Letters.