I am a human geographer working on social aspects of risk and resilience in the context of natural hazards, climate change and tourism development. A particular focus of my research is on the Global South: how tourism development creates risk, what social factors influence risk management, and how hazard and risk research generates impacts for communities and research participants.
Currently, I'm a post-doc at the Department of Geography, University of Innsbruck and hold a Hertha-Firnberg fellowship by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF). I am actively involved in two different, yet complimentary research projects:
Prior to joining the Department of Geography in October 2022 as a post-doc researcher, I worked for the German Committee for Disaster Reduction (DKKV) on resilience building strategies in tourism destinations in Sri Lanka, Namibia and the Dominican Republic (Link). I have also worked as independent consultant for the GIZ relating to risk-informed management in tourism. After studying International Development and Geography at the University of Vienna and the University of Geneva, I started my PhD in geography at the University of Innsbruck, within an ÖAW ESS project focusing on the interaction of tourism and natural hazards in the Nepalese Himalayas. My PhD thesis focused on the concept of social resilience. I explored how two tourism destinations in the Himalayas have been affected by natural hazards, how tourism actors manag risks and build resilience, and how tourism itself serves as risk driver. I have led and been involved in inter- and transdiciplinary research projects on resilience and risk-informed management in different countries. I have conducted empirical work in Austria, the Dominican Republic, Namibia, and Nepal. As for my research methods, I have relied on a broad methodological repertoire, integrating quantitative and qualitative social science research methods such as semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, questionnaire surveys and choice-bases conjoint analysis. I'm particulalry passionate about transdisciplinary work in mountain regions and how hazard and risk research affects people and generates societal impact. |
Contact
eva.posch(a)uibk.ac.at