My favourite thing about my role is...
Being inspired by and learning from the research team and networks I work with. Our work is informed by the communities, organisations and governments we deal with on a daily basis. Being embedded in the region’s disaster and health governance provides us opportunities to integrate our research findings into our daily interactions.
At the moment I am working on...
Fine tuning the 2026 Iain McCalman Lecture that I'll be giving on Monday 2 March in Sydney. I initially thought that it would be difficult to fill in the time I have allocated, but it is actually the opposite. I have so much to say about how disasters are impacting the health and wellbeing of rural communities, how rural communities step up to support each other in disasters and how we need to 'do' disasters differently in Australia in the face of climate change.
This project is interesting and/or important to me because...
We are living and breathing a turbulent climate in rural areas. This lecture will showcase the Northern Rivers Community Resilience Alliance which has been set up in response to these threats. I'll share how our research partnership is documenting and supporting the evolution of the Alliance, a collective of over 50 grassroots community groups preparing their communities for disasters.
The small research team at the University Centre for Rural Health is great at...
Long term embedded and reciprocal community research partnerships in the Northern Rivers region. There is a wonderful culture of mutual support amongst the research team and 'no survey without service'. We work with our partners to collectively build the evidence base for the evolution of health and disaster governance in the region.
My favourite place to go on campus is...
Looking at the view from our back deck at the Lismore building. Especially in Spring when the purple jacarandas and red flame trees are in full bloom – the whole town is a patchwork of red and purple!
Something that might surprise people about me is...
I spent the majority of my adult life living and working overseas and worked with colleagues in the Red Cross across over 40 countries. I lived in Vanuatu for three years and Fiji for seven years where I met my husband and we had both our sons while living overseas.
At the end of a long day I like to unwind by…
Going for a walk up the hill into the nearby Billinudgel Nature Reserve where I can process the day, work on my fitness and be immersed in the sounds of birds. The reserve has a huge breadth of vegetation from rainforest (with endangered rainforest snails!), heath land (with goannas) and wetlands (with big pythons). The site is also culturally significant for the Minjungbal people of the Bundjalung Nation.
This Sydney Spotlight was originally published on the University of Sydney intranet.