Dr Julie Morin

Postdoctoral Research Associate

Geographer with transdisciplinary expertise in disaster risk reduction and crisis management, especially in island and volcanic environments. Currently researching social volcanology on the ERC project IMAGINE, working with communities, authorities, and scientists to understand cultures and knowledge in volcanic areas through participatory approaches.

Biography

Career

• 2020-present: Postdoctoral Research Associate, ERC IMAGINE (PI: Dr Amy Donovan) Cambridge (UK)
• 2018: Info management expert, European Civil Protection, EUCP deployment following the Fuego eruption, Guatemala
• 2016-2020: Post-Doc researcher in volcanic risk management, Laboratoire Magmas et Volcans, Université Clermont Auvergne, France. P.I. of the project “Building realistic crisis management scenarios to increase the preparedness and resilience of the communities facing volcanic threats in Ecuador”
• 2015-2016: Post-Doc researcher in charge of developing educational tools on Natural Hazards, Art and Media Group, Earth Observatory of Singapore, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
• 2014: Post-Doc researcher in the CASAVA ANR project, Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, France. Assessment of volcanic hazards and risks in Antilles: Implications for decision-making and crisis management.
• 2013: Post-Doc researcher on historical tsunamis along Ligurian and Sardinian coasts, Italy, Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique (French Nuclear Energy Agency), Bruyère-Le-Châtel, France
• 2013: Post-Doc researcher in SEDIMER AXA Research Fund project: Sediment-related Disasters following the 2010 centennial eruption of Merapi Volcano, Java, Indonesia. Co-leader of WP6, coordinator of the Social Sciences research activities. Laboratoire de Géographie Physique CNRS, Meudon, France
• 2008-2010: Associate researcher in tsunami risk reduction in the Indian Ocean, PREPARTOI MAIF foundation project, LGP-CNRS, Meudon, France, based on La Reunion Island
• 2009: Educational program Consultant, UNESCO, Madagascar
• 2008: Disaster Risk Reduction Consultant, OCHA, Comoros Islands
• 2007-2008, 2011: Educational program Consultant, French Red Cross, Indian Ocean
• 2005-2006: Coordinator of the Prevention Axis of the TSUNARISQUE project: Environmental and social consequences following the 26 December 2004 tsunami), Planet Risk NGO, France

Qualifications

• 2020: Professional Drone Pilote, Part 1: Practical Qualification, Minute Drone, France
• 2012 : PhD in Risk and Crisis Management – Earth Sciences, Univ. of La Réunion – Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, France
• 2006: MA in Disasters and Natural Hazards Management, Univ. Paul Valéry Montpellier III, France
• 2005 : MA in Geography, Univ. Paris I Panthéon Sorbonne, France
• 2003 : BA in Geography, Univ. Paris I Panthéon Sorbonne, France

Awards

• 2017: I-Site Cap20-25 Senior Post-Doc Fellow
• 2016: Labex ClerVolc Post-Doc Fellow
• 2007: Regional Council of La Réunion Ph.D. Grant
• 2004 : LAVE European Volcanological Association Grant for fieldwork in Volcanology
• 2003 : “ASEM-Duo” Grant, French National Education and Foreign Ministry

Research

I am a geographer by training with an international transdisciplinary background in Geohazards Risk Reduction.

My PhD research explored the response capacities in the face of volcanic hazards on La Reunion (France) and Grande Comore Island (Union of Comoros). I highlighted the need for a more integrated approach to understand people’s behavior in the face of volcanic eruptions by combining paradigms that too often are treated separately (risk perception, access to livelihoods, access to crisis management resources). After my PhD, I continued to explore the human response to geohazards during different post-docs in Singapore, Indonesia, Italy, and French Antilles, with a focus mainly on feedback analyses of past crises to understand the roots of disasters. In my last position (Clermont Auvergne University), my focus has expanded to include work on a complementary scenario-based approach to prepare communities and authorities to better deal with future events and reduce the risk of disaster. Specifically, I have been working with partners in Ecuador to define risk scenarios for Cayambe (an Ecuadorian city threatened by a nearby volcano of the same name).

My studies are based on extensive and immersive fieldwork during both periods of crisis and peace with anthropological observation and surveys, participatory approaches (mapping, focus group discussions, Companion Modelling), table-top crisis exercises and games, and GIS-based risk analyses. I have in addition a strong interest in outreach on natural hazards and risk through conferences, scientific experiments, guided tours, exhibitions, workshops, games, and video making for the general public and for school children.

My current research at Cambridge is as a Postdoctoral Research Associate working with Dr Amy Donovan on the ERC funded project IMAGINE. This multi-disciplinary research project examines the creation, use and negotiation of knowledge regarding volcanic risk (and interconnected hazards) by scientists and stakeholders (including communities) in transboundary contexts in South America and Africa.

Publications

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Teaching

• 2021-2022: Superviser. Univ. of Cambridge, Dep. of Geography. LT Part 2 Volcanology paper, ET Part 1B Dissertation
• 2020-2022: Visiting Professor of UNESCO Chair on Geoenvironmental Disaster Reduction, Matsue, Japan
• 2019: Guest lecturer, Univ. Clermont Auvergne, Observatoire de Physique du Globe de Clermont-Ferrand. Lifelong learning for the CAT Modelling French Team of AXA Insurances, and for secondary school teachers in ‘Life and Earth Sciences’. Classes: impacts of volcanic eruptions, risk assessment and perception
• 2018: Field-based teaching on surveying techniques for Geology undergraduates, Yachay Technological University, Urcuqui, Ecuador (in collaboration with L. Bowman, Ass. Prof at YTU)
• 2010-2017: Guest lecturer in Geography and Public Administration: Univ. Paris I Panthéon Sorbonne ; Univ. Montpellier III; Ecole Nationale de l’Administration. Masters in Environment and Natural Hazards, Disasters and Risk Management, and Risk Management and Mitigation. Class: crisis management simulations
• 2013-2023 : Higher Education French Qualification (“Qualification MCF CNU Section 23 Geographie”: mandatory to be recruited as a tenured teacher-researcher in French universities), Conseil National des Universités.
• 2013-2014: Lecturer in Human and Social Sciences, Univ. Paris 5 Descartes, Head of the Disaster Risk module, Master in Risk Engineering. Classes: natural hazards and risks, crisis management simulations
• 2009-2011: Lecturer in Geography, Univ. Paris I Panthéon Sorbonne. Undergraduate students. Classes: geomorphology, hydrology, cultural geography, survey methods, risk analysis
• 2007-2009: Teaching assistant in Geography and Earth Sciences, Univ. of La Réunion. Undergraduate students and Master students in urban engineering and environment. Classes: cartography, geology, natural hazards