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Christine Eriksen

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SNSF-funded Research Professor, University of Bern

Christine Eriksen leads the research group for Geographies of Disasters hosted by the Institute of Geography at the University of Bern, Switzerland. Her professorship is funded by a Consolidator Grant awarded by the Swiss National Science Foundation.

Her work focuses on social dimensions of disasters, particularly people’s ability to coexist with wildfire. She considers broader contexts, such as cultural norms, political agendas, climate change, and environmental history.

Christine is the author of two books and over 100 other publications. Her work builds on two decades of fire research, with case studies spanning Australia, North America, Europe, and Africa.

Experience

  • 2023–present
    SNSF-funded research professor, University of Bern, Switzerland
  • 2020–2023
    Senior researcher, Center for Security Studies, ETH Zurich
  • 2018–2020
    Senior lecturer, University of Wollongong, Australia
  • 2010–2018
    Senior research fellow, University of Wollongong, Australia

Education

  • 2010 
    University of Wollongong, Australia, PhD Human Geography
  • 2004 
    King's College London, MA Human Geography
  • 2003 
    School of Oriental & African Studies, University of London, BA with joint Honours Geography and Social Anthropology

Publications

  • 2021
    Dilemmas, decision-making and disasters: Emotions of parenting, safety and rebuilding in bushfire recovery, Area
  • 2020
    Untangling insurance, rebuilding, and wellbeing in bushfire recovery, Geographical Research
  • 2020
    Alliances in the Anthropocene: Fire, Plants, and People, New York: Routledge
  • 2020
    Europe's Fiery Future: Rethinking Wildfire Policy, CSS Policy Perspective
  • 2020
    Rethinking the interplay between affluence and vulnerability to aid climate change adaptive capacity, Climatic Change
  • 2020
    Why insurance matters: insights from research post-disaster, Australian Journal of Emergency Management
  • 2019
    Human vulnerability to ‘natural’ disasters: A case study of Hurricane Katrina, Geography Review
  • 2019
    Coping, caring and believing: The embodied work of disaster recovery workers, Emotion, Space and Society
  • 2019
    An Unmitigated Disaster: Shifting from Response and Recovery to Mitigation for an Insurable Future, International Journal of Disaster Risk Science
  • 2019
    Impacts of Wildfire on Children, Encyclopedia of Wildfires and Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) Fires
  • 2019
    Defensive Actions and People Preparedness, Encyclopedia of Wildfires and Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) Fires
  • 2019
    When insurance and goodwill are not enough: Bushfire Attack Level (BAL) ratings, risk calculations and disaster resilience in Australia, Australian Geographer
  • 2019
    People from refugee backgrounds contribute to a disaster-resilient Illawarra, Australian Journal of Emergency Management
  • 2018
    Embodied Uncertainty: Living with complexity and natural hazards, Journal of Risk Research
  • 2018
    The Wildfire Within: Gender, leadership, and wildland fire culture, International Journal of Wildland Fire
  • 2018
    Negotiating adversity with humour: A case study of wildland firefighter women, Political Geography
  • 2017
    Retrofitting for wildfire resilience: What is the cost?, International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction
  • 2017
    Research Ethics, Trauma and Self-care: Reflections on disaster geographies, Australian Geographer
  • 2017
    The Affluence-Vulnerability Interface: Intersecting scales of risk, privilege and disaster, Environment and Planning A
  • 2017
    Examining perceptions of luck in post-bushfire sense-making in Australia, International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction
  • 2016
    Wildfire survival plans in theory and practice, International Journal of Wildland Fire
  • 2016
    How much does it cost residents to prepare their property for wildfire?, International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction
  • 2016
    Gendered Dynamics of Wildland Firefighting in Australia, Society & Natural Resources
  • 2016
    Gendered responses to the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires in Victoria, Australia, Geographical Research
  • 2016
    Into the firing line: civilian ingress during the 2013 ‘‘Red October’’ bushfires, Australia, Natural Hazards
  • 2015
    Landscape Preferences, Amenity, and Bushfire Risk in New South Wales, Australia, Environmental Management
  • 2015
    The relevance of mindfulness practice for trauma-exposed disaster researchers, Emotion, Space and Society
  • 2015
    Fire, water and everyday life: Bushfire and household defence in a changing climate, Fire Safety Journal
  • 2014
    The Retention, Revival and Subjugation of Indigenous Fire Knowledge through Agency Fire Fighting in Eastern Australia and California, USA, Society & Natural Resources
  • 2014
    Gender and Wildfire: Landscapes of Uncertainty, New York: Routledge
  • 2014
    Guest Editorial: Geographical Fire Research in Australia - Overview and Prospects, Geographical Research
  • 2014
    Gendered Risk Engagement: Challenging the Embedded Vulnerability, Social Norms and Power Relations in Conventional Australian Bushfire Education, Geographical Research
  • 2013
    Defining adequate means of residents to prepare property for protection from wildfire, International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction
  • 2013
    Defining the Importance of Mental Preparedness for Risk Communication and Residents Well-Prepared for Wildfire, International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction
  • 2013
    Wildfire preparedness, community cohesion and social-ecological systems, Global Environmental Change
  • 2012
    Engaging with the (Un)familiar: Field Teaching in a Multi-Campus Teaching Environment, Journal of Geography in Higher Education
  • 2011
    Trial by Fire: natural hazards, mixed-methods and cultural research, Australian Geographer
  • 2011
    The art of learning: Wildfire, amenity migration and local environmental knowledge, International Journal of Wildland Fire
  • 2010
    Bushfire and Everyday Life: Examining the Awareness-Action 'Gap' in Changing Rural Landscapes, Geoforum
  • 2010
    The Gendered Dimensions of Bushfire in Changing Rural Landscapes in Australia, Journal of Rural Studies
  • 2007
    Why do they burn the 'bush'? Fire, rural livelihoods, and conservation in Zambia, Geographical Journal

Grants and Contracts

  • 2023
    Consolidator Grant: Building Wildfire Resilient Communities in Europe
    Role:
    Sole investigator
    Funding Source:
    Swiss National Science Foundation
  • 2017
    Community Resilience Innovation Program: ‘Resilient Together: Engaging the Knowledge and Capacities of Refugees for a Disaster Resilient Illawarra’
    Role:
    Principal investigator
    Funding Source:
    NSW Office of Emergency Management
  • 2017
    Discovery Project: ‘When Disaster Strikes: Under-Insurance in an Age of Volatility’
    Role:
    Co-investigator
    Funding Source:
    Australian Research Council
  • 2015
    DECRA: ‘Bushfires, Faith and Community Cohesion: Building a Resilient Australia’
    Role:
    Sole investigator
    Funding Source:
    Australian Research Council
  • 2011
    National Competitive Grant: ‘Co-Existing with Fire: Managing Risk and Amenity at the Rural-Urban Interface’
    Role:
    Co-investigator
    Funding Source:
    Bushfire Cooperative Research Centre

Professional Memberships

  • Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society with the Institute of British Geographers
  • Member of the Association for Fire Ecology

Research Areas

  • Human Geography (1604)
  • Social And Cultural Geography (160403)