Nibedita S. Ray-Bennett Fhea, Frgs Email and Phone Number

I am a Professor of Risk Management, Founding President of the Avoidable Deaths Network, Governing Board Member and Interim Associate Director for the Institute for Environmental Futures at the University of Leicester in the UK. I developed and launched the blended learning MSc Risk, Crisis and Disaster Management. I am a social scientist specialising in disaster risk reduction (DRR) and international development at the interface with public health. In particular my research and enterprise focus on i) understanding the nuances of ‘vulnerabilities’ and ‘risks’ that exist in societies and the seams of disaster management organisations for disaster reduction; ii) developing the capacity of disaster responders through knowledge-exchange, training, networking, and improved governance; iii) reducing avoidable deaths, especially of women and adolescent girls through the use of my evidence-based RHCC intervention package and low-budget Facility and Crisis Reproductive Health Kits for the continuity of primary care services during disasters and crises; and iv) understanding the causes and circumstances of avoidable disaster deaths and of neglected public health including snakebite deaths and drowning deaths from the direct and indirect effect of climate-related disasters.I am the author of Caste, Class and Gender in Multiple Disasters (2010, VDM Verlag), Avoidable Deaths: Systems Failure Approach in Disaster Risk Management (2018, Springer Nature) and Avoidable Disaster Deaths (forthcoming, Springer Nature).