About Karen E McNamara
Karen is a Professor of Development Geography in the School of the Environment, deeply committed to understanding how people experience and respond to the interconnected challenges of poverty, disaster risk, and climate change. Over the past 20 years, she has led applied research on resilient livelihoods, non-economic loss and damage, community-based adaptation, human mobility, and gender in partnership with governments and NGOs across the Asia-Pacific region. Her research has supported farmers in Aceh rebuilding after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami; assisted newly settled migrants in Dhaka displaced by flooding and erosion; collaborated with Elders in the Torres Strait to record traditional environmental knowledge; and documented everyday climate impacts and adaptation stories in rural communities throughout the Pacific Islands.