Researcher Summary
I am a disaster sociologist and currently a Lecturer in Sociology. Prior to joining the University of Canterbury, I worked as a Research Officer in Health Psychology at Massey University in Aotearoa and an Assistant Professor in Global Studies at Aarhus University in Denmark. I received my PhD in Sociology from the University of Auckland, and I have a MA in Sociology from California State University San Marcos.
My main research interests are in disaster sociology, migration, health and ageing and the sociology of language, and I am particularly interested in how the socially disadvantaged groups such as (im)migrants, refugees and linguistic minorities experience and cope with cultural, economic, environmental, political and social challenges. My current work looks at older informal caregiver experiences following the COVID-19 pandemic in Aotearoa, which is funded by HRC Emerging Career Researcher First Grants. I have also been recently awarded an HRC Explorer Grant to fund a study on multilingual disaster/health crisis communication and community translators in Aotearoa. I have just completed a grant funded project focuses on Asian migrant caregiver experiences of the dual pandemic of COVID-19 and (re)surgence of anti-Asian sentiment in Aotearoa.
I have published numerous papers in international academic journals and edited volumes. Many of my publications focus on migrants and minorities in disaster contexts, disaster linguicism, and qualitative research methods (i.e., disaster qualitative research and collaborative autoethnography). I co-edited A Decade of Disaster Experience in Ōtautahi Christchurch: Critical Disaster Studies Perspectives (Palgrave Macmillan/Springer Nature, 2022) with Steve Matthewman
