My background is as a structural engineer with 25+ years of experience in NZ, Australia, USA, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Brunei and Japan. I have been at Unitec for 8 years and for nearly 15 years have been involved in humanitarian aid and post disaster work through RedR, UN agencies and NGO’s. This has taken me on over 60 assignments to Haiti, Samoa, Pakistan, Tonga, Cook Islands, Australia, Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka, China, Switzerland, Sudan, Syria, Timor and recently to Christchurch, NZ. This field work forms the motivation for my research and I have published over 60 refereed papers and book chapters. I am presently co-supervising 4 PhD students, 8 masters students and 15 final year engineering and architectural students in disaster related topics.
Research is part of the key to doing things better, next time.
The problem is being able to bring who you are to what you do; especially given the potential for changes in both early on. This connection usually/often requires giving up common notions of success and also control over your career path.
