Adjunct Associate Professor

Dr Frank Thomalla obtained his PhD from University of East Anglia in Environmental Science with a focus on vulnerability, disasters and risk. Frank’s extensive research background has seen him work in the USA, UK, Europe, Asia and Australia. Frank was a Research Fellow in the Stockholm Environmental Institute from 2004 to 2009 where he led the ‘Poverty and Vulnerability Programme’. Following this, Frank was appointed as a Research Fellow at the Stockholm Resilience centre where he led the research theme ‘Governance and Ecosystem Management of Coastal and Marine Systems’. From 2009, Frank was the Senior Lecturer, Human Geography, in the Faculty of Science at Macquarie University. Frank was formerly a Senior Research Fellow with the Stockholm Environmental institute (SEI) Asia Centre. Frank currently runs Climate and Disaster Risk Research and Consulting (CDRC), a consultancy company specialising in disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation, based in Sydney, Australia. He conducts research, provides consultancy services and expert advice and technical support for a range of clients including the United Nations, NGOs, national and local governments, and consultancy companies in Australia and across the Asia Pacific Region.

Qualifications

PhD (Environmental Science), University of East Anglia; Bachelor of Science (Oceanography), University of Washington.

Teaching areas

• Environmental decision making
• Research management
• Human geography
• Environmental resource management

Research areas

• Human dimensions of environmental change
• Risk perception and responses to risk
• Vulnerability research and sustainability science
• Linkages between culture and risk
• Risk, equity and resilience
• Natural hazards and disaster risk reduction
• Climate change adaptation
• Building resilience
• The politics of aid and change

Memberships

• Member of the UNISDR Asian Science and Technology Academic Advisory Group (ASTAAG)
• Invited External Reviewer of the Belmont Forum
• Member of the Board of Editors of the International Journal of Disaster Risk Science
• Member of the Institute of Australian Geographers
• Approved Expert of the Roster of Experts of the ‘Climate and Development Knowledge Network’ (CDKN) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
• Member of the UNU-EHS Munich Re Resilience Academy 2013-2018 § Co-coordinator (with Mark Pelling) of the Kings College London – SEI Asia Post Graduate Internship Program
• Honorary Associate, Department of Geography and Planning, Faculty of Arts, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia

Awards

• United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) grant for ‘Enhancing Resilience to Extreme Climate Events: Lessons from the 2015-2016 El Niño Event in Asia and the Pacific’ (2017)
• Stockholm Environment Institute Strategic Core Fund for ‘SEI Initiative on Transforming Development and Disaster Risk’ (Project Co-Leader) (2017 and 2015)
• USAID/Rockefeller Foundation/SIDA Global Resilience Partnership Challenge grant for ‘Private Sector Action to Build Resilient Supply Chain Communities’ (Co-author and partner) (2015)
• European Commission Horizon 2020 grant for ‘EDUCEN - European Disasters in Urban Centres: a Culture Expert Network (3C – Cities, Cultures, Catastrophes)’ (Co-author and partner) (2015)

Key Research Publications

Ensor, J., Tuhkanen, H., Boyland, M., Salamanca, A., Johnson, K., Thomalla, F., Lim Mangada, L. 2021.

Redistributing resilience? Deliberate transformation and political capabilities in post-Haiyan Tacloban. World Development 140, 105360. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2020.105360.

Eriksen, C., Simon, G.L., Roth, F., Lakhina, S.J., Wisner, B., Adler, C., Thomalla, F., Scolobig, A., Brady, K., Bründl, M., Neisser, F., Grenfell, M., Maduz, L., Prior, T. 2020. Rethinking the interplay between affluence and vulnerability to aid climate change adaptive capacity. Climatic Change. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-020-02819-x.

Thomalla F., Boyland, M., Johnson, K., Ensor, J., Tuhkanen, H., Gerger Swartling, Å., Han, G., Forrester, J., Wahl, D. 2018. Transforming Development and Disaster Risk. Sustainability. 2018; 10(5): 1458. https://doi.org/10.3390/su10051458.

Thomalla, F., Boyland, M., Calgaro, E. 2018. Disasters and development in Southeast Asia: Towards equitable resilience and sustainability. In: McGregor, A., Law, L., Miller, F. (Eds.), Routledge Handbook of Southeast Asian Development, p. 342-361, ISBN: 978-1-138-84853-5.

Thomalla, F., L. Lebel, M. Boyland, D. Marks, H. Kimkon, S. Bach Tan, and A. Nugroho. 2018. Long-Term Recovery Narratives Following Major Disasters in Southeast Asia. Regional Environmental Change 18 (4): 1211–22. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10113- 017-1260-z.

 Marks, D. and F. Thomalla. 2017. Responses to the 2011 Floods in Central Thailand: Perpetuating the Vulnerability of Small and Medium Enterprises? Natural Hazards 87 (2): 1147–65. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-017-2813-7.

Djalante, R., Garschagen, M., Thomalla, F., Shaw, R. (Eds.) 2017. Disaster Risk Reduction in Indonesia: Progress, Challenges, and Issues, Disaster Risk Reduction. Springer. ISBN 978-3-319-54466-3.

Thomalla, F., and M. Boyland. 2017. Enhancing Resilience to Extreme Climate Events: Lessons from the 2015-2016 El Niño Event in Asia and the Pacific. Bangkok, Thailand: UNESCAP, UNDP, OCHA, RIMES, APCC.

Thomalla, F., and S.R.M. Manchiraju. 2016. Chapter 1.3. Increasing Vulnerability to the Impacts of Natural Hazards and Extreme Events. In GEO-6 Regional Assessment for Asia Pacific, 27–34. Nairobi, Kenya: United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

Schipper, E.L.F., F. Thomalla, G. Vulturius and K. Johnson. 2016. Linking Disaster Risk Reduction, Climate Change and Development. International Journal of Disaster Resilience in the Built Environment, 7(2), Special Issue: UN Global Assessment Report 2015. DOI: 10.1108/IJDRBE-03-2015-0014.

Tanner, T., D. Lewis, D. Wrathall, N. Cradock-Henry, S. Huq, C. Lawless, R. Nawrotzki, V. Prasad, Md. A. Rahman, R. Alaniz, R. Bronen, K. King, K. McNamara, Md. Nadiruzzaman, S. Henly-Shepard and F. Thomalla. 2015. Livelihood Resilience: Preparing for Sustainable Transformations in the Face of Climate Change. Nature Climate Change, 5, 23–26. DOI: 10.1038/NCLIMATE2431.

Djalante, R. and F. Thomalla. 2012. Disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation in Indonesia: Institutional challenges and opportunities for integration. International Journal of Disaster Resilience in the Built Environment, 3(2). 166–80. DOI:10.1108/17595901211245260.

Djalante, R., F. Thomalla, M.S. Sinapoy, and M. Carnegie. 2012. Building resilience to natural hazards in Indonesia: progress and challenges in implementing the Hyogo Framework for Action. Natural Hazards, 62(3). 779– 803. DOI:10.1007/s11069-012-0106-8.

Djalante, R. and F. Thomalla. 2011. Community Resilience to Natural Hazards and Climate Change: A Review of Definitions and Operational Frameworks. Asian Journal of Environment and Disaster Management (AJEDM) - Focusing on Pro-Active Risk Reduction in Asia, 03(03). 339. DOI:10.3850/S1793924011000952.

Larsen, R., F. Thomalla, S. Naruchaikusol, C. Tepa, B. Ravesloot, and A.K. Ahmed. 2010. Integrating DRR and NRM Priorities from a Local Livelihoods Perspective in the Indian Ocean Tsunami Early Warning System. In Demonstrating the Role of Ecosystem- Based Management for Disaster Risk Reduction. Partnership for Environment and Disaster Risk Reduction (PEDRR).

Thomalla, F., and R.K. Larsen. 2010. Resilience in the Context of Tsunami Early Warning Systems and Community Disaster Preparedness in the Indian Ocean Region. Environmental Hazards 9 (3): 249–65.https://doi.org/10.3763/ ehaz.2010.0051.

Contact Dr Frank Thomalla via email FRANK.THOMALLA@CDRC.NET.AU.